UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

CALIFORNIA  COLLEGE  OF  MEDICINE 

LIBRARY 

MAY  i  3  1970 

IRVINE,  CALIFORNIA  92664 


HYPNOTISM 

OB 

SUGGESTION  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 


HYPNOTISM 


OR 


SUGGESTION  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 


&tubp  of  tfjr  -pspcfjological,  ^tepdjo^ijpstolostral  anil 
therapeutic  inspect*  of 


AUGUST  FOREL,  M.D. 

Dr.  Phil.  (H.  C.)  Et  Jur.  (H.  C.),  Chigny,  Switzerland 

Formerly  Professor  of  Psychiatry  and  Director  of  the  Provincial  Lunatic 

Asylum,  Zurich 


{Eransilatea  from  tfje  Jf iftfj  German  Coition 

BY 

H.  W.  ARMIT,  M.R.C.S.,  L.R.C.P. 

American  Edition  Revised  and  Corrected 


NEW  YORK 

REBMAN    COMPANY 

1123  BROADWAY 


COPYHIGHT,    1907,    BT 

REBMAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 


PREFACE   TO   THE   FIRST   ENGLISH 
EDITION 

IN  recommending  a  very  careful  study  of  Professor  Forel's 
book  to  the  English-reading  medical  public,  I  can  confidently 
promise  that  both  from  an  academic  and  also  a  practical  point  of 
view  much  benefit  will  thereby  be  gained.  Professor  Forel 
is  a  true  philosopher,  and  treats  his  subject  consistently  in  a 
logical  spirit;  Professor  Forel  is  a  psychologist  and  physiolo- 
gist of  no  meager  description,  and  his  utterances  for  this  reason 
deserve  careful  consideration. 

The  importance  of  studying  the  functional  aspects  of  thought 
and  of  other  psychical  exercises  has  become  an  urgency,  more 
especially  since  this  is  not  taught  in  our  medical  schools ;  and 
the  impressions  which  the  practitioner  gains  depend  greatly 
on  accident,  and  on  the  particular  trend  of  his  mental  reasoning. 

While  it  is  obviously  impossible  for  any  one  to  be  in  a 
position  to  criticise  a  subject  like  hypnotism  by  the  mere  perusal 
of  a  volume,  I  feel  sure  that  the  enthusiasm  which  this  book  is 
capable  of  awakening  for  this  subject  is  of  such  a  nature  that 
future  opportunities  of  acquiring  personal  practical  acquain- 
tance with  hypnosis  will  be  grasped  by  all  intelligent  students. 
For  myself,  I  would  say  that  medical  practice  without  suggestion 
is  an  impossibility.  Furthermore,  I  am  convinced  that  this 
holds  good  universally,  although  it  is  not  widely  recognized. 

In  offering  this  translation  to  the  English-speaking  reader, 
I  must  apologize  for  having  introduced  a  few  new  or  changed 
technical  terms  when  these  appeared  to  me  to  correspond  more 
exactly  to  the  original  text  than  already  existing  terms.  For 
-the  rest,  I  trust  the  reader  will  find  the  English  edition  of 
Professor  Forel's  work  an  interesting  book,  and  one  from  which 
much  knowledge  may  be  acquired. 

H.  W.  ARMIT. 
WEMBLEY. 


PREFACE  TO  THE   FIRST  EDITION 

THE  chief  part  of  the  present  little  work  appeared  as  an  article 
in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  die  Gesammte  Strafrechtswissenschaft, 
under  the  title  of  "  Der  Hypnotismus  und  seine  strafrechtliche 
Bedeutung  "  (Hypnotism  and  its  Forensic  Aspects). 

The  wish,  which  has  been  expressed  to  me  from  many  quar- 
ters, that  I  should  place  this  article,  in  a  short,  comprehensive 
form,  before  the  whole  medical  profession,  and  give  the  chief 
facts  about  hypnotism  and  the  up-to-date  theories,  impelled  me 
to  publish  the  work  in  book  form,  with  a  number  of  supple- 
mentary data.  My  days  were  so  taken  up  with  other  work  that 
I  found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  time  for  this.  Perhaps 
the  imperfections  of  the  present  sketch  may  be  excused  on  these 
grounds. 

Those  who  wish  to  take  up  this  subject  ought  to  read  Bern- 
heim's  classical  work  "  De  la  suggestion  et  de  ses  application  et 
la  therapeutique  "  (Paris:  O.  Doin). 

Like  everything  else  which  is  brought  freshly  to  the  notice 
of  the  public,  hypnotism  has  also  been  severely  attacked  by 
some,  greeted  with  derision  and  skepticism  by  others,  judged 
with  exaggerated  sanguinism  by  others  again,  and,  lastly,  deco- 
rated with  all  sorts  of  various  exaggerations. 

Some  regard  it  as  humbug,  and  call  all  hypnotized  persons 
malingerers.  This  view,  I  may  explain  in  passing,  has  been 
refuted  as  absurd  to  the  mind  of  every  unbiassed  person  by 
the  very  number  of  the  so-called  malingerers.  Some  believe 
that  the  world  is  being  turned  upside  down  and  the  law  endan- 
gered, and  they  wish  the  police  to  interfere,  to  drive  hypnotism 
away  like  a  plague. 

I  shall  be  glad  if  I  can  help,  by  means  of  this  work,  to  disperse 
the  various  outgrowths  arising  from  this  irrational  human  men- 
tal excitement,  and  reduce  the  facts  to  their  actual  measure 

vii 


Vlll  PREFACE   TO   THE    FIRST    EDITION 

and  importance.  I  believe  that  a  fairly  wide  experience,  extend- 
ing over  two  years,  will  enable  me  to  succeed  in  doing  this. 

I  would  say  to  the  scoffers  and  skeptics,  "  Test  before  you 
judge." 

One  can  only  judge  hypnotism  if  one  has  practiced  hypnotiz- 
ing for  a  considerable  time. 

DR.  AUG.  FOREL. 

ZURICH. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIFTH  EDITION 

THE  fourth  edition  appeared  in  1902,  when  this  work  had 
already  increased  considerably  in  size.  Since  this  date  only 
a  few  new  data  and  new  views  have  been  brought  to  light,  and 
therefore  I  have  found  it  necessary  to  make  only  a  few  addi- 
tions and  alterations  in  the  book.  The  most  important  publi- 
cations on  this  subject  have  appeared  in  the  Zeitschrift  fur 
Hypnotismus  (now  called  Journal  fur  Psychologic  und  Neu- 
rologie),  edited  by  Dr.  Oscar  Vogt  (Leipzig:  Amb.  Earth). 
In  recent  years  practically  nothing  has  been  done  which  has 
directly  furthered  the  development  of  the  doctrine  of  suggestion. 
On  the  other  hand,  Semon's  theory  of  the  "  Mneme "  is  of 
importance.  Dubois'  views  have  created  a  considerable  sensa- 
tion. I  shall  return  to  this  in  Chapter  VII. 

Chapter  I  and  §  16  of  Chapter  IV  are  of  theoretical  nature. 
They  require  more  effort  and  psychological  deliberation  than  the 
rest.  They  are,  however,  not  absolutely  indispensable.  Still 
those  readers  who  will  expend  the  energy  in  carefully  reading 
and  understanding  it  will  grasp  hypnotism,  not  only  half  or 
superficially,  but  fully. 

In  the  fifth  edition  a  new  chapter  (No.  X),  on  "  A  Case  of 
Double  Consciousness,"  has  been  added.  Chapters  IX,  XII, 
XIII,  XIV,  and  XV  have  remained  unaltered.  Numerous 
additions  and  alterations  have  had  to  be  made  in  Chapters  III, 
IV  (§§  2  and  5),  VI,  and  VII,  while  only  a  few  were  made 
in  the  remaining  chapters  and  in  the  remaining  paragraphs  of 
Chapter  IV. 

DK.  AUG.  FOREL. 

CHIGNY,  NEAR  MORGES. 


CONTENTS 


PACK 


I    CONSCIOUSNESS   AND    THE    HYPOTHESIS   OF   IDENTITY 

(MONISM)      .         .         .  .         .         .         .       I 

II  THE  RELATIONSHIP  OF  NERVE  ACTIVITY  TO  NERVE 
SUBSTANCE  AND  TO  THE  CONDITIONS  OF  CONSCIOUS- 
NESS  31 

III  GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  HYPNOTISM  .         .         .40 

IV  SUGGESTION     ...         .         .         .         .         .         .57 

1.  Hypnotizability  or  Suggestibility   .         .         .57 

2.  Sleep  and  Hypnosis       .          .          .          .          .66 

3.  Degrees  of  Hypnosis     .         .         .         .         .85 

4.  Training 86 

5.  The  Phenomena  of  Hypnosis.         .         .         .88 

6.  Resistance  of  the  Hypnotized  Person — Auto- 

suggestion        .         .         ...         .         .100 

7.  Posthypnotic  Phenomena      ....   106 

8.  Amnesia,  or  Loss  of  Memory .         .         .         .110 

9.  Suggestion  as  to  Time  (Suggestion  a  echeance)   .   114 

10.  Waking  Suggestions      .          .          .          .          .117 

11.  The  Condition  of  the  Mind  During  the  Carry- 

ing out  of  Posthypnotic  Suggestions,   Ter- 
mineingebungen  and  Waking  Suggestions  .    118 

12.  Lasting  Results  of  Suggestion         .         .         .   124 

13.  Hallucination  retroactive,   or  Suggested   Falsi- 

fication of  Memory    .....   126 

14.  Simulation  and  Dissimulation  of  Hypnosis  .   133 

15.  The  Significance  of  Suggestion        .          .          .   138 

16.  The  Nature  of  the  Action  of  Suggestion  .          .    142 


Xll  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

V    SUGGESTION  AND  DISORDERS  OF  THE  MIND — HYSTERIA  163 
VI     HINTS  TO  THE  PRACTITIONER  ON  SUGGESTIVE  TREAT- 
MENT AND  PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICS.  .  .  .    179 

VII    HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY  ....  203 
VIII    EXAMPLES  OF  CURES  EFFECTED  BY  SUGGESTION — A 
CASE  OF  SPONTANEOUS  SOMNAMBULISM — THE  CURE 
OF  CONSTIPATION,  AND  THE  RATIONALE  OF  IT     .217 
IX    A  CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL,   PARTLY   RETROGRESSIVE 
AMNESIA,     WITH     PROTRACTED     SOMNAMBULISM, 
ANALYZED  AND  CURED  BY  SUGGESTION       .         .  237 
X    A  CASE  OF  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS       .         .         .  260 
XI    SUGGESTION  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  MEDICINE  AND  TO 

QUACKERY       T .         ..'.'.         .         .         .  266 
XII    THE  FORENSIC  ASPECT  OF  SUGGESTION  .         .  278 

XIII  HYPNOTISM  AND  THE  MEDICAL  SCHOOLS          .         .  306 

XIV  SUGGESTION  IN  ANIMALS — THE  WINTER  AND  SUM- 

MER SLEEPERS  .         .         .         .         .         ,         .  309 

XV    APPENDIX — A  HYPNOTIZED  HYPNOTIST  .          .         .315 

INDEX.         ....  .321 


HYPNOTISM  OR  SUGGESTION  AND 
PSYCHOTHERAPY 

CHAPTER    I 


IT  is  necessary  to  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  meaning  of  conscious- 
ness in  order  to  understand  hypnotism.  The  phenomena  of 
hypnotism  actually  indicate  a  play  between  the  "  conceived  " 
and  the  apparently  "  unconceived  "  in  our  minds.  Nothing  is 
more  fitted  to  produce  a  proof  that  the  expression  "  uncon- 
ceived "  is  incorrect,  and  does  not  correspond  to  facts,  than  just 
this  play. 

It  is,  therefore,  wise  to  come  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
term  "  psychical,"  which  deals  with  the  component  parts  of 
the  field  of  consciousness,  in  order  to  avoid  confusion  of  words, 
and  not  to  follow  theology  in  the  sense  in  which  Goethe's 
Mephistopheles  followed  it  in  teaching  the  student.  Two 
definitions  of  the  word  "  psychical "  have  been  hopelessly  con- 
fused: (1)  The  abstract  idea  of  "introspection,"  or  subjectiv- 
ism —  i.e.,  the  physiological  observations  which  everyone 
realizes,  and  is  able  to  realize  only  in  and  about  himself.  I 
will  reserve  the  word  "  consciousness  "  for  this  definition.  (2) 
The  active  element  of  the  mind — i.e.,  the  physiological  action 
of  the  brain,  which  produces  the  component  parts  of  the  field 
of  consciousness.  One  has  erroneously  included  this  latter  in 
consciousness  in  its  widest  sense,  and  thereby  the  confusion  has 
arisen  which  admits  consciousness  as  a  characteristic  of  the 
mind. 

I  call  the  molecular  activity  waves  of  the  nerve  elements 

"  neurokymes." 

l 


4  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

One  cannot  speak  of  the  consciousness  of  other  persons  with- 
out drawing  deductions  of  analogy,  neither  should  one  speak  of 
the  consciousness  of  forgotten  things  when  dealing  with  one's 
self.  The  field  of  our  consciousness  is,  however,  constantly 
changing.  Things  appear  in  it  and  disappear  out  of  it.  Many 
things  can  be  more  or  less  easily,  albeit  indirectly,  recalled  to 
consciousness  by  association  through  the  intermediation  of 
memory.  These  things  appeared  for  the  moment  not  to  be 
within  the  consciousness  of  the  person.  The  experience  of 
observations  on  one's  self  allows  one  to  recognize  experiment- 
ally that  many  things  which  appeared  to  be  unconceived  are 
actually  conceived,  or  had  been  conceived.  More  than  this, 
many  sensory  impressions  remain  unrealized  to  our  usual  con- 
sciousness in  waking  condition,  or,  as  I  prefer  to  call  it,  to  our 
"  superconsciousness,"  during  the  time  when  they  are  taking 
place,  but  they  can  be  recalled  later.  Whole  chains  of  cerebral 
activity — e.g.,  dreams,  somnambulism,  or  double  consciousness 
— are  apparently  removed  from  the  superconsciousness,  but  can 
be  associated  with  the  remembered  conditions  either  by  sug- 
gestion or  other  means  at  a  later  date.  In  these  cases  the 
seemingly  unrecognized  is  thus  proved,  nevertheless,  to  be 
recognized.  These  phenomena  have  often  led  to  mystic  and 
dualistic  interpretations.  They  can,  however,  be  explained  with 
the  help  of  a  very  simple  assumption.  Presuming,  as  we  are 
justified  in  doing,  that  the  fields  of  introspective  cerebral 
activity  are  limited  by  the  processes  of  association  or  dissocia- 
tion— that  is  to  say,  that  we  cannot  connect  all  these  processes 
with  each  other  at  any  one  time,  and  therefore  all  those  things 
which  appear  to  us  to  be  unconceived  in  reality  are  conceived, 
or  have  a  subjective  reflex — the  following  may  be  deduced: 

Our  usual  consciousness  in  waking  condition  or  supercon- 
sciousness is  only  the  internal  subjective  reflex  of  the  activity 
of  attention,  the  individual  parts  of  which  are  intimately  con- 
nected; it  is  only  the  reflex  of  upper  limits,  intensely  concen- 
trated, of  certain  active  conditions  of  the  cerebrum  during 
waking.  There  are,  besides,  other  forms  of  consciousness, 
which  are  in  part  forgotten,  and  in  part  only  loosely  or  indi- 
rectly connected  with  the  components  of  the  superconsciousness, 


THE  THEORY  OF  THE  MNEME  3 

and  which  one  may  call  hypoconsciousness,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  superconsciousness.  These  correspond  to  other  active 
conditions  of  the  brain  which  are  less  concentrated,  or  asso- 
ciated in  a  different  way.  One  must  further  assume  the  exist- 
ence of  still  other  forms  of  hypoconsciousness  associated  with 
the  subcortical  (lower)  brain  centers,  which  are  still  further 
removed  from  superconsciousness,  and  so  on. 

THE  THEORY  or  THE  MNEME 

Before  we  go  further  we  must  regard  the  phenomena  of 
memory  and  allied  processes  more  closely  in  the  light  of  a  recent 
highly  important  work. 

Starting  from  Ewald  Hering's  ingenious  idea  that  "  instinct 
is,  as  it  were,  a  form  of  memory,"  Richard  Semon1  produced 
the  convincing  proof,  that  this  is  not  only  an  analogy,  but  a 
more  deeply  placed  identity  in  the  organic  processes.  In  order 
to  avoid  psychological  terminology,  he  introduces  new  terms 
for  general  ideas,  starting  from  a  careful  definition  of  what  we 
understand  by  "  stimulus." 

He  defines  stimulus  as  "  an  energetic  action  on  the  organism, 
of  such  a  nature  that  it  calls  forth  a  number  of  complicated 
changes  in  the  susceptible  substance  of  the  living  organism." 
He  calls  this  altered  condition  of  the  organism,  which  lasts  for 
the  same  time  as  does  the  stimulus,  the  Condition  of  Excitation. 
Before  the  stimulus  has  acted,  the  organism  is  in  a  condition  of 
Primary  Indifference  toward  the  stimulus ;  afterwards,  it  is  in 
a  condition  of  Secondary  Indifference. 

If,  after  the  stimulus  has  ceased,  the  susceptible  substance 
of  the  living  organism  in  the  condition  of  secondary  indiffer- 
ence shows  permanent  changes,  Semon  calls  the  action  "  en- 
graphic."  The  change  itself  he  calls  "  engram."  The  sum 
total,  not  only  of  the  inherited,  but  also  of  the  individually 
acquired  engrams  of  a  living  being,  he  calls  "  mneme."  He 
uses  the  term  "  ecphoria  "  for  the  repeated  production  of  the 
whole  condition  of  excitation  of  the  organism,  which  is  syn- 

1 R.  Semon,  "  Die  Mneme  als  erhaltendes  Prinzip  im  Wechsel  des  organis- 
chen  Geschehens"  (Leipzig:  Wilh.  Engelmann,  1904). 


4  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

chronous  with  the  passed  complex  stimulus,  which  is  produced 
by  either  a  part  of  the  same  or  by  the  weakened  full  stimulus. 
This  term  corresponds  to  the  processes  of  association,  of  mem- 
ory, and  of  the  physiological  conditions  of  automatism,  onto- 
genesis, and  phylogenesis,  which  are  all  psychologically 
recognized  as  introspective  processes.  Engrams  are,  therefore, 
"  ecphorized."  The  whole  mnemetic  excitation  (engram  com- 
plex) concurs  with  the  contemporary  condition  of  excitation 
produced  by  the  new  stimulus  in  every  process  of  this  kind. 
Semon  calls  this  concord  "  homophonia."  When  a  discord  be- 
tween the  action  of  the  new  stimulus  and  the  mnemetic  excita- 
tion occurs,  the  activity  of  attention  helps  introspectively,  the 
regeneration  processes  help  ontogenetically,  and  adaptation 
helps  phylogenetically  to  restore  the  homophonia. 

Semon  shows,  on  the  evidence  of  convincing  facts,  that  the 
actions  of  the  stimulus  are  only  localized  temporarily  and  rela- 
tively to  the  region  of  entrance — primary  limitation  region 
(Eigenbezirk} — but  radiate  and  die  away  in  the  whole  organ- 
ism, and  not  only  in  the  nervous  system ;  for  these  stimuli  act, 
for  example,  in  plants  as  well.  In  this  way  even  an  enormously 
weakened  nerve  engraph  can  attack  embryonic  cells.  Semon 
further  shows  that  very  weak  engraphic  actions  can  attain  a 
condition  of  ecphoria  after  innumerable  repetitions  (phylo- 
genetically after  innumerable  generations).  And  thus  the 
possibility  of  an  extremely  slow  inheritance  of  acquired  char- 
acteristics, produced  by  innumerable  repetitions,  can  be  ex- 
plained on  mnemetic  principles  without  impugning  the 
correctness  of  the  facts  brought  forward  by  Weismann.  That 
this  is  so  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  influences  of  "  crossings  " 
(conjunctions)  and  of  the  choice  of  propagation  naturally  act 
infinitely  more  quickly  and  more  intensely  than  do  the  indi- 
vidually inherited  mnemetic  engraphs.  These  engraphs  might 
serve  as  an  explanation  for  De  Vries'  mutations. 

Semon's  uniform  elucidation  of  these  ideas  in  morphology, 
biology,  and  psychology  is  brilliant,  and  the  new  points  of  view 
which  are  opened  out  by  it  are  of  great  importance.  The 
mneme  works,  under  the  influences  of  the  outer  world,  con- 
servatively and  in  combining  by  means  of  engraphy,  while  the 


ENGRAMS  5 

choice  of  propagation  roots  out  all  that  is  badly  adapted.  The 
stimuli  of  the  outer  world  thus  supply  the  true  building-stones 
of  the  organism. 

As  one  can  see,  Semon  interprets  the  term  "  mneme "  as 
meaning  the  memory,  not  merely  as  an  appearance  of  pure 
psychology — that  is  to  say,  not  only  from  an  introspective  point 
of  view,  but  as  a  general  law  of  organic  life,  which,  however, 
in  a  special  introspective  case,  conveys  a  very  important  mean- 
ing. The  author,  therefore,  has  substituted  for  the  terms 
usually  employed  in  psychology,  such  as  "  memory,"  "  impres- 
sion of  memory,"  "  association,"  etc.,  "  mneme,"  "  engram," 
"  ecphoria,"  etc.  It  is  necessary  to  emphasize  that  our  psycho- 
logical introspection  possesses  a  constant  tendency  to  form 
higher  syntheses  by  means  of  repetitions  and  custom.  Late 
summarized  or  synthetic  units  arise  out  of  groups  or  combina- 
tions of  earlier  introspective  units.  For  example,  one  takes 
the  details  of  the  formation  of  letters  while  learning  to  read, 
but  when  one  has  acquired  skill  in  reading  one  "  skims  " ;  or, 
again,  the  gradual  development  of  a  selection  from  individual 
mental  pictures — e.g.,  the  reception  of  the  term  "  dog  "  obtained 
by  seeing  several  (individual)  dogs,  etc.  In  this  way  the  detail 
does  not  disappear  from  the  brain.  During  synthetic  think- 
ing, it  is  true,  it  is  no  longer  "  superconceived,"  but  only  "  hypo- 
conceived  " ;  but  it  can,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  become  again 
at  least  recognized  by  the  help  of  the  concentration  of  atten- 
tion— e.g.,  the  details  of  the  formation  of  letters. 


It  is  easy  to  ascertain  that  the  maximum  of  our  psychical 
activity  (attention)  wanders  constantly  from  one  observation 
or  thought  to  another.  Such  objects  of  attention  as  visual  or 
auditory  pictures,  impulses  of  will,  sentiments  or  abstract  ideas, 
take  place  without  a  doubt  in  various  parts  of  the  brain  or 
innirone  complexes.  Thus  one  can  compare  attention  to  a 
shifting  functional  macula  lutea  in  the  brain,  or  to  a  varying 
maximum  of  the  extreme  activity  of  the  neurokymes,  when  re- 
sponding to  the  most  intense  stimulation.  But  it  is  equally 
certain  that  other  psychical  phenomena,  which  are  placed  out- 


6  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

side  the  attention,  are  also  recognized,  albeit  more  weakly. 
Lastly,  one  usually  includes  in  the  term  "  psychical " — i.e.,  in 
the  contents  of  consciousness — everything  which  has  once  been 
conceived,  notwithstanding  that  that  which  is  more  or  less  for- 
gotten is  included.  Theoretically,  this  appears  to  be  sound,  if 
one  regards  it  superficially ;  but  in  reality  there  are  large  num- 
bers of  processes  which  are  only  just  conceived  during  one 
instant,  and  then  disappear  for  ever  from  the  consciousness. 
It  is  here  that  one  must  seek  the  transition  from  the  conceived 
to  the  unconceived,  and  not  in  the  strong  and  repeatedly  con- 
ceived "  psychomes."  *  In  this  case,  however,  the  weakness  of 
the  consciousness  is  also  only  artificial,  since  the  internal  re- 
flexes of  these  processes  can  only  be  weakly  echoed  in  the  con- 
tents of  a  markedly  deflected  attention.  But  this  does  not 
prove  that  such  half-conceived  processes  are  in  themselves  so 
feebly  recognized.  A  momentary  action  of  the  attention  suffices 
to  render  them  clearly  conceived  later  on ;  but  as  a  result  of  dis- 
traction they  lose  increasingly  the  connection  with  the  chain 
of  the  maxima  of  intensity,  wjiich  generally  forms  the  remem- 
bered contents  of  our  superconsciousness.  The  more  weakly 
such  half-conceived  processes  are  connected  with  the  supercon- 
sciousness, however,  the  more  difficult  will  it  be  to  associate 
them  afresh  with  the  chief  chain  by  the  aid  of  memory.  This 
applies  to  all  dreams,  to  all  unimportant  events  of  our  lives, 
all  instincts,  and  all  automatic  habits.  But  if  there  is  a  half- 
conceived  cerebration  between  that  which  is  clearly  recognized 
and  that  which  is  unrecognized,  the  consciousness  of  which  only 
appears  to  us  so  feeble  because  of  the  distraction  of  the  usual 
chain  of  our  memory,  then  this  must  be  accepted  as  an  un- 
doubted indication  that  in  the  next  stage  the  remainder  of  the 
connection  must  break  off  entirely.  But  we  have  no  right  to 
presume  that  consciousness  itself  has  no  part  in  the  activity  of 
the  brain,  which  activity  disappears  in  the  haze  of  our  super- 
consciousness.  For  the  sake  of  simplicity  and  brevity,  these 
so-called  unconceived  brain  processes  will  be  referred  to  as 
possessing  hypoconsciousness. 

1  The  author  apologizes  for  this  term.     He  has  introduced  it  for  brevity's 
sake  to  express  each  and  every  psychical  unit. 


ATTENTION  7 

If  this  assumption  be  correct — and  everything  tends  to  show 
that  it  is — the  physiologist  and  the  comparative  psychologist 
need  not  trouble  to  take  consciousness  further  into  considera- 
tion. It  does  not  exist  of  itself,  but  only  through  the  activity  of 
the  brain,  of  which  it  is  the  intrinsic  reflex.  When  the  activity 
of  the  brain  disappears,  it  disappears  at  the  same  time.1  It  is 
complicated  or  simple  when  the  activity  is  complicated  or 
simple,  and  when  the  latter  is  dissociated  it  also  becomes  dis- 
sociated. Consciousness  is  only  an  abstract  term,  which  must 
lose  all  meaning  when  the  conscious  activity  of  the  brain  ceases. 
The  activity  of  the  brain,  which  appears  in  the  mirror  of  the 
consciousness,  appears  subjectively  there  in  the  form  of  sum- 
mary syntheses,  and,  indeed,  the  latter  increases  with  the  higher 
complications  and  selections  gained  by  habit  and  practice,  so 
that  the  details  which  were  formerly  conceived,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  become  hypoconceived  later  on,  and  the  whole 
appears  as  a  psychical  unit. 

Psychology,  therefore,  cannot  be  limited  to  the  study  of  the 
phenomena  of  our  superconsciousness  by  means  of  introspection 
alone,  for  it  would  then  be  impossible.  Every  individual  would 
only  have  the  psychology  of  his  own  subjectivism,  like  the  old 
scholastic  spiritualists,  and  would  have  to  doubt  the  existence 
of  the  outer  world,  including  his  fellow-men.  The  deductions 
of  analogy,  the  natural  scientific  induction,  the  comparison  of 
the  experience  of  our  five  senses,  all  prove  to  us  the  existence  of 
the  outer  world  and  of  our  fellow-creatures,  and  of  the  psychol- 
ogy of  the  latter.  At  the  same  time,  these  factors  prove  to  us 
that  there  is  a  psychology  of  animals — a  comparative  psychol- 
ogy. Lastly,  our  own  psychology,  taken  without  reference  to 
the  activity  of  our  brains,  is  an  incomprehensible  fragment, 
which  teems  with  contradictions,  and  which,  above  all,  appears 
to  contradict  the  law  of  the  preservation  of  energy. 

It  is  further  clear  from  this  very  simple  argument  that  a 
psychology  which  ignores  the  activity  of  the  brain  must  be 
an  impossibility.  The  contents  of  our  superconsciousness  is 
always  influenced  and  caused  by  hypoconceived  activities  of  the 

1  There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  inactive  consciousness  without  contents. 
The  only  term  remaining  to  be  applied  to  this  is  "  pure  nothing,"  in  its  abstract 
sense. 


8  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

brain.1  It  cannot  be  understood  without  these  activities.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  can  only  understand  the  full  value  and  the  basis 
of  the  complicated  organization  of  our  brain,  if  we  regard  it  in 
the  inner  illumination  of  our  consciousness,  and  if  we  amplify 
this  observation  by  comparing  the  contents  of  consciousness  of 
our  fellow-men.  The  last  mentioned  is  rendered  possible  for 
us  by  means  of  spoken  and  written  speech — the  "  coinage  "  of 
thinking — which  offer  detailed  deductions  of  analogy.  The 
mind  must,  therefore,  be  studied  from  without  and  from  within. 
Outside  ourselves,  it  is  true,  the  former  can  only  be  carried  out 
by  deduction  of  analogy ;  but  as  this  is  the  only  means  at  our 
disposal,  we  must  employ  it. 

Talleyrand  said  that  speech  has  been  given  to  man,  not  for 
the  expression,  but  for  the  concealing  of  his  thoughts.  Apart 
from  this,  some  people  honestly  place  a  very  different  construc- 
tion on  words  than  do  others.  A  scientist,  an  artist,  a  peasant, 
a  woman,  a  child,  an  uncivilized  Wedda  of  Ceylon,  interpret 
the  same  words  of  the  same  language  quite  differently ;  but  even 
the  same  person  may  interpret  the  words  differently,  accord- 
ing to  his  mood  and  the  connection  in  which  they  are  used. 
Prom  this  we  may  infer  that  for  the  psychologist,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  physician  for  diseases  of  the  brain — and  I  speak 
as  one — mimicry,  expression,  and  action  of  a  person  often  reveal 
the  true  internal  man  better  than  what  he  says.  In  the  same 
way,  also,  the  movements  and  actions  of  animals  have  the  im- 
portance of  a  "  speech  "  for  us.  The  psychological  value  of 
these  must  not  be  undervalued.  Besides,  the  anatomy,  physi- 
ology, and  pathology  of  human  and  animal  brains  have  brought 
forward  the  incontestable  proof  that  the  characters  of  our  mind 
depend  on  the  quality,  quantity,  and  integrity  of  the  living 
brain,  and  are  therefore  identical  with  it.  A  living  brain  with- 
out a  mind  can  no  more  exist  than  can  a  mind  without  a  brain, 
and  every  normal  or  pathological  change  of  the  activity  of  the 
mind  corresponds  to  a  normal  or  pathological  change  of  the 

1  In  his  novel,  "La  femme  de  trente  ans"  (published  by  Caiman  Levy),  p. 
127,  Balzac  writes:  "H  existe  des  pensees  auxquelles  nous  ob&ssons  sans  les 
connaitre:  elles  sont  en  nous  &  not  re  insu.  Quoique  cette  reflexion  puisse 
paraitre  plus  paradoxale  que  vraie,  chaque  personne  de  bonne  foi  en  trouvera 
mille  preuves  dans  sa  vie."  Balzac  was  a  good  psychologist.  He  had  already 
recognized  the  value  of  the  hypoconceived  influences. 


DUALISM   AND   MONISM  9 

activity  of  the  neurokymes  of  the  brain — i.e.,  of  its  nerve  ele- 
ments. What  we  recognize  introspectively  in  our  consciousness 
are  synthesized  activities  of  the  brain. 

We  can  therefore  accept  the  theory  of  identity  regarding  the 
relations  of  pure  psychology  (introspection)  to  the  physiology 
of  the  brain  (the  observation  of  the  activity  of  the  brain  from 
without)  as  long  as  the  facts  are  consistent. 

Kopernik's  theory  is  also  a  supposition.  We  can  accept  with 
Kopernik  that  the  earth  and  the  planets  revolve  around  the  sun, 
and  not  the  reverse — i.e.,  the  sun  and  stars  revolving  around 
us.  Still  this  is  not  actually  proved — at  all  events,  not  deduc- 
tively. One  can,  however,  still  adopt  the  reverse  view  with 
Ptolemy.  But  the  facts  which  were  formerly  known,  and  those 
especially  which  have  been  observed  more  recently,  all  coincide 
with  Kopernik's  theory,  and  consistently  support  it  in  such  a 
way  that  we  must  believe  in  it.  On  the  other  hand,  one  can 
only  accept  the  views  of  Ptolemy  by  presuming  the  most  won- 
derful and  most  unlikely  erratic  movements  of  the  stars.  All 
facts  speak  more  and  more  against  this  view.  There  would  be 
a  most  confused  chaos,  and  a  number  of  laws  of  magnetism,  etc., 
which  are  at  present  universally  confirmed  would  be  over- 
thrown. We  must  therefore  refuse  Ptolemy's  theory,  more 
especially  as,  by  means  of  Kopernik's  views,  and  of  their  de- 
velopment in  the  astronomy  of  to-day,  one  can  prophesy  celestial 
events  exactly,  and  even  the  advent  of  new  satellites.  This 
would  be  impossible  with  Ptolemy's  theory. 

Exactly  the  same  comparison  holds  good  for  the  theory  of 
dualism — the  mind  and  the  brain  regarded  as  two  separate 
things — and  that  of  scientific  monism — identity  theory — which 
regards  both  as  one  and  the  same  reality.  Dualism  can  be  com- 
pared to  the  theory  of  Ptolemy,  because  it  leads  to  a  deduction 
ad  absurdum,  and  because,  in  order  to  explain  facts,  it  has  to 
make  the  most  unlikely  mystical  suppositions,  which  do  not 
find  support  anywhere,  but  lead  to  the  most  glaring  contradic- 
tions. On  the  other  hand,  with  the  help  of  the  identity  theory, 
everything  can  be  clearly  explained  without  contradictions, 
just  as  the  movements  of  the  stars  are  explained  by  Kopernik's 
theory.  It  is  possible  here,  also,  often  to  measure  psychological 


10  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

reactions  and  to  prognosticate,  according  to  the  quality  of  the 
brain  and  to  the  kind  of  stimuli  and  disturbances  which  act  on 
it.  When  the  psychology  of  the  superconsciousness  fails,  the 
condition  can  be  explained  by  amnesia — that  is  to  say,  by  the 
want  of  connection  on  the  part  of  the  psychology  of  the  super- 
consciousness  with  that  of  the  hypoconsciousness.  For  these 
very  simple  reasons  one  must  accept  the  identity  theory  as  cor- 
rect as  long  as  it  corresponds  with  facts  and  with  its  surround- 
ings; this  is  not  the  case  with  dualism. 

The  word  "  identity,"  or  psychophysiological  monism,  thus 
means  that  every  psychological  phenomenon  creates  with  the 
molecular  or  neurokyme  activity  of  the  cortex,  causing  the 
phenomena,  something  which  is  real  and  tangible.  This  can 
only  be  regarded  in  two  ways.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
dualism  one  only  realizes  the  appearance,  but  from  the  point 
of  view  of  monism  it  is  the  actual  thing  which  one  observes. 
If  it  were  not  so,  there  would  be  an  excess  of  energy  from  the 
conjunction  of  purely  psychical  to  bodily  or  cerebral  factors, 
which  excess  would  contradict  the  law  of  the  preservation  of 
energy.  This  has  never  been  demonstrated,  and  would  set  at 
nought  all  the  experiences  of  science.  In  the  phenomena  of  our 
introspective  or  psychological  mental  life,  which  has  been  so 
exactly  observed  in  the  biology  of  the  human  race,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  they  are  extraordinary,  there  is  absolutely 
nothing  which  contradicts  natural  laws,  or  which  would 
justify  the  assumption  of  a  mystic,  supernatural,  psychical 
complex. 

For  this  reason  I  speak  of  monistic  identity,  and  not  of 
psychophysiological  parallelism.  A  thing  cannot  be  parallel 
with  itself.  Still,  the  modern  psychologists  only  wish  to  ex- 
press a  presumptive  parallelism  of  phenomena,  and  leave  the 
question  of  dualism  or  monism  undecided.  Since  many  proc- 
esses of  the  central  nervous  system  are  neither  available  for 
physiological  nor  for  psychical  observation,  those  phenomena 
which  can  be  approached  by  both  methods  of  investigation  are 
not  parallel;  they  are  unevenly  divided  from  one  another  by 
intermediate  processes.  Thus  parallelism  could  only  be  a 
theoretical  supposition.  As  the  dualistic  hypothesis  is  untena- 


DUALISM   AND   MONISM  11 

ble  scientifically,  it  is  necessary  to  start  from  the  identity 
hypothesis. 

It  is  absolutely  clear  that  the  same  action  of  the  nervous 
system  of  an  animal — let  us  say  of  my  own  nervous  system — 
must  appear  totally  different  to  me  if  I  observe  it  by  means  of 
physiological  methods  from  without  to  what  it  would  if  it  were 
reflected  in  my  consciousness.  It  would  be  wasted  energy  to 
try  to  translate  the  physiological  quality  into  psychical  terms, 
or  the  reverse.  One  cannot  even  translate  one  psychical  quality 
into  another,  in  relation  to  the  reality,  which  is  depicted  sen- 
sorily  by  both.  An  example  of  this  is  found  in  the  vibrations 
of  a  deeply  pitched  tuning-fork  when  acting  on  the  three  senses 
of  sound,  sight,  and  touch.  But  we  can  accept  inductively  that 
the  same  fact,  the  same  vibration,  is  depicted  sensorily  in  these 
three  ways,  which  are  qualitatively  absolutely  different,  or,  ex- 
pressed in  other  words,  produces  in  us  these  three  different 
impressions,  which  are  not  translatable  psychically.  These  im- 
pressions take  place  in  different  parts  of  the  brain,  and  taken 
as  impressions,  or  neurokymes  of  the  brain,  are  naturally  actu- 
ally different  from  one  another. 

One  speaks  of  psychophysiological  identity  only  in  relation 
to  the  cortical  neurokymes,  which  directly  cause  the  known 
phenomena  of  consciousness  on  the  one  hand,  and,  in  relation 
to  these,  phenomena  of  consciousness  on  the  other  hand. 

Dualistically,  a  mind  can  only  be  conceived  to  be  either  with- 
out or  with  energy.  If  it  be  conceived  as  being  free  from 
energy — i.e.,  independent  of  the  law  of  energy — we  arrive  at 
a  condition  of  faith  in  miracles,  which  would  interrupt  natural 
laws  at  will,  and  throw  them  over.  If  it  be  conceived  as  con- 
taining energy,  one  merely  is  changing  one  word  for  another 
wdth  the  same  meaning,  since  a  mind  which  obeys  the  laws  of 
energy  is  only  a  portion  of  the  brain  activity  which  has  been 
willfully  taken  from  its  surroundings.  One  accredits  it  with 
mental  life,  but  immediately  after  deprives  it  of  this.  Energy 
can  only  be  qualitatively  transformed,  and  not  quantitatively. 
If  it  obeyed  the  laws  of  energy,  a  dualistically  conceived  mind 
should  be  capable  of  being  completely  transformed  into  another 
form  of  energy;  but  then  it  would  no  longer  be  dualistic:  it 


12  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

would  not  be  materially  different  from  the  activity  of  the 
brain. 

From  among  the  disciples  of  Bruno's  and  Spinoza's  old  meta- 
physical monism  I  should  wish  to  mention  the  name  of  Carl 
Friedrich  Burdach,  a  great  brain  anatomist,  who  has  been 
unjustifiably  forgotten.  In  my  "  Suggestion  Doctrine  and 
Science,"  which  I  published  in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus 
in  1892,  I  cited  his  work — "  Of  the  Structure  and  Life  of  the 
Brain,"  vol.  iii.  (Leipzig,  1826),  p.  141  et  seq.  The  reader 
should  study  this  work.  Burdach,  appearing  as  an  investigator 
of  the  brain,  demonstrated  with  scientific  and  philosophical 
clearness  the  unity  of  brain  and  mind.  Meynert's  doctrine  is 
based  on  Burdach's  ideas.  The  results,  however,  of  modern 
normal  and  pathological  anatomy  and  histology  of  the  brain, 
as  well  as  of  the  most  recent  animal  experiments,  were  unknown 
to  him ;  but  these  have,  in  the  main,  fully  confirmed  his  views. 

We  therefore  understand  by  scientific  or  psychophysiological 
monism,  in  distinction  to  dualism,  the  hypothesis  of  unity  of 
brain  and  mind  from  the  point  of  view  of  psychophysiological 
identity.  If  it  could  be  proved  that  something  "  mental  " 
i.e.,  immaterial,  without  substratum  of  energy — could  exist 
dualism  would  be  proved. 

We  understand  materialism  as  being  a  conception  of  this 
world,  in  which  "  matter  "  appears  as  the  governing  power  of 
the  world,  or  a  sort  of  god ;  but  we  scarcely  take  into  considera- 
tion that  we  only  recognize  the  appearances  of  matter,  and 
know  absolutely  nothing  of  its  existence.  It  must,  in  conse- 
quence, only  be  taken  as  an  abstract  idea. 

Each  one  of  us  can  only  recognize  his  own  mind.  We  sup- 
pose the  existence  of  other  human  and  possibly  animal  minds 
by  the  intermediation  of  speech,  mimicry,  etc. — i.e.,  by  conclu- 
sions of  analogy — with  a  probability  which  borders  on  the 
limits  of  scientific  certainty.  It  is,  however,  necessary  to  ex- 
plain matters  more  fully,  as  in  recent  times  a  marked  disposi- 
tion to  identify  monism  with  materialism,  and  thus  to  cause  a 
great  confusion,  has  shown  itself. 

The  question  of  monism  and  dualism  is  not  a  religious  one, 
and  does  not  influence  any  religious  metaphysics;  but  accord- 


MONISM  13 

ing  to  the  decision  between  these  two,  one  can,  it  is  true,  take 
this  as  a  basis  for  religion.  But  in  itself  it  is  quite  another 
question. 

Religion  and  metaphysics  inquire  into  the  first  beginning 
and  ultimate  objects  of  the  universe.  They  seek  to  know  the 
nature  and  intentions  of  the  universal  power — i.e.,  of  God. 
They  wish,  further,  to  define  their  relations,  especially  to  man. 
Religion  accepts  a  revelation  of  God  to  man,  while  metaphysics 
attempts  vainly  to  fathom  the  unfathomable  by  means  of  logical 
deductions. 

The  material  or  so-called  objective  side  of  phenomena  and 
the  psychical  or  subjective  side  are  facts  which  can  be  observed 
every  day,  and  even  every  second,  of  our  lives. 

Dualism  teaches  that  there  are  two  things:  (1)  Bodily  or 
material  things,  which  obey  the  natural  laws;  and  (2)  mental 
or  spiritual  things,  which,  it  is  true,  occupy  a  certain  relation- 
ship toward  matter,  but  nevertheless  possess  an  existence  which 
is  independent  of  matter.  For  this  reason  dualism  speaks  of 
the  influences  of  body  on  the  mind,  and  of  mind  on  the  body ; 
of  "  immaterial  "  minds  and  spirits  and  of  "  soulless  "  matter. 

On  the  other  hand,  monism  teaches:  strictly  speaking,  we 
only  recognize  one  mind — our  own.  We  can  only  accept  other 
minds  by  analogy.  But  mind  and  body  are  not  two  separate 
things ;  they  are  only  two  aspects,  recognized  by  us,  two  forms 
of  appearances  of  the  same  thing.  Fechner  has  expressed  this 
in  the  following  terms :  "  It  is  like  a  circle  regarded  mathe- 
matically; it  is  convex  if  looked  at  from  outside,  it  is  concave 
if  looked  at  from  within,  and  yet  it  is  only  one  and  the  same." 
"  Monism,"  therefore,  cannot  support  material  nor  yet  spirit- 
ualistic metaphysics,  for  it  would  contradict  itself.  The  terms 
"  matter  "  and  "  mind  "  are  valueless,  confusing  words  for  the 
theory  of  monism  if  accepted  as  opposite  conditions.  These 
are  abstract  artificial  terms,  which  man  has  willingly  and  artifi- 
cially manufactured  from  the  unity  of  the  things  of  the  world, 
but  which,  when  taken  by  themselves,  have  absolutely  no  basis. 
Every  phenomenon,  no  matter  whether  it  be  physiological  or 
psychological,  possesses  a  psychological  and  physiological  aspect. 
A  table,  a  reflex,  a  negative  current  vibration,  and  the  like, 


14  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

are  only  realized  by  me,  in  spite  of  all  science,  by  my  subjective 
perception,  and  by  my  mode  of  viewing  things,  which  depends 
on  a  combination  of  the  various  senses.  This  has  led  me  to 
accept  the  existence  of  the  outer  world.  The  same  applies  to 
my  thinking,  my  feeling,  and  my  will,  to  a  pain,  a  resolution, 
to  "  love,"  and  so  on.  The  "  psychological,"  is  a  direct  phe- 
nomenon in  both  cases,  but  the  "  physiological,"  or  "  objective," 
only  an  indirect  one,  which  is  controlled  by  other  senses  and 
considerations,  and  is,  therefore,  an  opened-out  chain  of  con- 
ceptions. Since  the  study  of  the  brain  and  of  psychophysiology 
has  brought  forward  the  proof  that  a  direct  phenomenon  of 
consciousness  does  not  exist,  save  in  connection  with  an  action 
of  the  brain,  and  since  we  can  actually  observe  the  efforts  and 
actions  of  our  brain  in  thinking,  feeling,  and  willing,  it  is 
obvious  that  every  purely  psychological  phenomenon  possesses 
its  physiological  side — the  movement  of  a  material  element  in 
the  brain.  In  one  word,  nothing  is  "  psychical  "  without  being 
at  the  same  time  "  physical,"  and,  if  we  could  observe  the  "  non- 
ego,"  we  should,  in  all  probability,  find  that  in  the  same  way 
nothing  can  be  "  physical  "  without  being  "  psychical."  Meta- 
physical monism  teaches  further :  as  there  is  no  "  matter  "  with- 
out "  energy,"  and  no  "  energy  "  without  "  matter,"  so  there 
certainly  can  be  nothing  soulless1  (Unbeseeltes)  in  the  world. 

The  phenomenon  of  introspection  is  only  an  internal  reflex 
of  that  which  has  taken  place,  the  exterior  of  which  appears  to 
us  as  the  moving  matter  with  its  energy.  No  one  has  ever  been 
able  to  separate  the  interior  from  the  exterior,  and  no  one  will 
ever  be  able  to  do  so.  All  attempts  resolve  themselves  into  the 
employment  of  empty  words.  Everyone  only  knows  the  interior 
in  relation  to  himself. 

Pure  scientific  monism  (the  hypothesis  of  identity)  may,  it 
is  true,  not  generalize  so  widely  as  metaphysical  monism,  of 
which  we  have  just  been  speaking.  It  is  content  to  accept  the 
identity  of  being  of  every  psychical  phenomenon,  which  is 

1  As  soon  as  one  employs  the  term  "soul"  for  inanimate  things,  a  storm 
of  opposition  is  raised:  "Fancies!"  "Nonsense!"  "Talk  of  world-souls!" 
and  the  like.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  people  are  kept  captivated  in  anthro- 
pomorphism, and  cannot  grasp  or  understand,  that  the  element  of  the  intro- 
spective (psychical)  reflex  must  be  just  as  simple  in  relation  to  a  human  mind 
as  an  atom  is  in  relation  to  a  living  human  brain. 


HYPOTHESIS  OF   IDENTITY  15 

available  for  direct  psychological  observation,  with  its  so- 
called  brain-physiological  correlative,  and  must  leave  the 
hypothesis  of  the  "  soul "  to  metaphysical  speculation,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  it  is  inclined  toward  it. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  the  dispute  on  the  ques- 
tions detailed  above  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  metaphysics  of 
religion  directly.  The  first  beginning  and  the  ultimate  aim — 
free  evolution  or  fatalism — all  remain  just  as  untouched  as  does 
the  question  as  to  the  being  of  a  God.  It  is  true  that  God,  in 
personal  relationship  to  ourselves  and  to  the  rest  of  Nature,  as 
it  appears  to  us,  is  not  particularly  easy  to  reconcile  with  the 
monistic  interpretation.  But  even  from  other  points  of  view 
the  picturing  of  God  in  human  form  can  scarcely  be  consistent 
with  the  conception  of  omnipotence. 

A  number  of  dogmata  of  various  creeds  obstruct  the  monistic 
view,  in  the  same  way  as  they  formerly  obstructed  Kopernik's 
teaching  of  the  solar  system.  These  dogmata  have  taken  up 
scientific  questions,  which  are  accessible  to  the  capabilities  of 
human  knowledge,  and  have  utilized  them  for  their  religious 
creeds.  Their  advocates  cannot  get  over  the  fact  that  at  the 
present  day  it  is  just  these  dogmata  which  have  been  disputed 
from  the  point  of  view  of  scientific  knowledge.  Herein  lies  the 
pith  of  the  whole  thing. 

However,  there  is  something  which  has  furthered  the  scien- 
tific aspect  of  the  question  of  "  monism  "  or  "  dualism  "  enor- 
mously, and  that  is  simply  the  investigation  of  the  human  and 
animal  central  nervous  system  and  of  its  normal  and  patho- 
logical functions. 

That  which  the  former  hazy  doctrines  regarded  as  immaterial 
human  souls  (somewhat  as  the  savage  regards  lightning  as 
Deus  ex  macliina)  is  now  incontestably  proved  from  first  to 
last  to  be  the  interior  of  the  mental  life.  All  attempts  to  sepa- 
rate a  part  of  the  "  soul  "  as  a  "  soul  nucleus  "  from  the  mental 
life,  as  independent  from  the  living  brain  substance,  becomes 
lamentably  frustrated  by  the  observations  daily  becoming  more 
exact  and  more  numerous  on  the  absolute  inseparability  of  all 
normal  as  well  as  pathological  phenomena  of  the  mind  from  the 
integrity  of  its  organ. 


16  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

One  chief  difficulty,  however,  appeared  still  to  remain  in  the 
obscure  field  of  the  so-called  unconscious  mental  life.  The  law 
of  Fechner-Weber  cannot  be  brought  into  line.  There  are  in- 
compatibilities between  the  phenomena  of  consciousness  and  the 
observed  and  measured  physiological  results. 

This  is  simply  due  to  the  fact  that  complicated  apparatus 
(brain  centers)  lie  between  the  physiologically  measured  results 
and  those  parts  of  the  cerebrum  in  which  our  superconceived 
(psychical)  life  is  enacted.  The  hypoconceived  activity  (which 
is  unrecognized  by  our  superconsciousness)  of  these  apparatus 
can  inhibit  or  facilitate,  disturb  or  further.  It  thereby  neces- 
sarily introduces  an  error  in  the  results  of  psychophysiological 
measurements,  which  are  based  on  Fechner's  law.  One  must 
especially  avoid  drawing  too  definite  conclusions  from  these 
measurements.  Among  others,  the  following  reasons  may  be 
given:  (1)  The  more  marked  concentration  of  cerebral  activity, 
which  undoubtedly  corresponds  to  the  process  of  attention,  is 
accompanied  by  the  most  intense  and  clear  consciousness;  (2) 
undoubtedly  the  intensity  and  (3)  duration  of  the  brain  activity 
assist  in  producing  that  part  of  our  consciousness  which  is 
subjectively  recognized  by  us  or  remembered.  That  this  is 
extremely  likely  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that  known  psychical 
measurements  of  time  have  proved  how  much  more  rapidly 
apparently  unrecognized  reactions  take  place  than  do  recognized 
ones.  (4)  Everything  which  is  unusual,  everything  wrhich  finds 
the  brain  activity  unprepared,  everything  for  which  the  said 
activity  is  not  yet  adapted  or  not  yet  sufficiently  adapted,  pro- 
duces such  reactions  of  the  brain  activity,  which  are  accom- 
panied by  more  marked  superconsciousness.  One  could  almost 
say  that  shock,  quarrels,  antagonism,  plastic  remodeling  of  the 
dynamics  of  the  brain,  call  forth  the  phenomenon  of  supercon- 
sciousness, or  render  it  more  acute.  It  would  thus  appear  that 
the  more  unstable  forms  of  nerve  activity  are  accompanied  by 
reflections  of  superconsciousness.  (5)  Every  action  of  the 
brain  appears  in  the  mirror  of  the  consciousness — i.e.,  subjec- 
tively— as  a  unit,  as  that  which  philosophers  called  "  the  condi- 
tion of  consciousness."  But  a  deeper  study  of  psychology,  and 
especially  of  psychophysiology,  teaches  us  that  the  apparent 


PERCEPTION  17 

units  are  extremely  complicated,  and  are  made  up  of  compo- 
nents, which,  albeit  very  widely  apart  as  far  as  time  and  place 
are  concerned,  are  yet  linked  together.  One  has  only  to  think 
of  what  we  call  an  observation — e.g.,  that  of  a  watch — no  mat- 
ter whether  it  is  caused  by  a  hallucination  or  by  the  actual  re- 
garding of  a  real  watch.  The  example  of  a  visual  observation 
is  particularly  convincing,  because  of  that  which  one  has  learned 
from  persons  who  have  been  born  blind,  and  who  have  only 
gained  the  sense  of  sight  later  in  life  through  the  help  of  an 
operation  for  cataract.  At  first  these  persons  have  no  visual 
perception,  but  only  a  medley  of  color  impressions,  and  they  take 
a  long  time  before  they  learn  to  see — i.e.,  to  perceive.  They 
never  learn  this  as  completely  as  they  do  perception  and  obser- 
vation by  means  of  the  other  organs  of  special  sense,  and  thus 
they  continue  to  find  their  way  about  chiefly  by  feeling  and 
sound.  Even  the  sense,  which  is  the  simplest  for  us,  depends, 
without  doubt,  on  a  large  physiological  complex  (Hoeffding). 
One  knows  that  the  subjective  sensation  of  the  color  white, 
although  it  seems  to  be  single,  depends  on  a  mixture  of  the 
sensations  of  all  colors.  This  can  be  proved  by  means  of  a 
wheel,  which  is  suitably  painted  all  colors.  If  such  a  wheel 
is  made  to  revolve  increasingly  fast,  a  point  is  reached  when 
our  retina  can  no  longer  differentiate  the  single  colors,  and  the 
wheel  then  appears  to  be  white.  In  order  to  study  really  primi- 
tive simple  sensations,  we  should  have  to  go  back  to  the  new- 
born infant  (apart  from  the  case  of  the  congenital  cataract 
mentioned  above),  and,  of  course,  that  we  cannot  do. 

As  a  result  of  what  has  been  said,  we  must  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  our  human  superconsciousness  only  means  a  sum- 
mary, synthetic,  incomplete,  subjective  illumination  of  the 
more  developed  portions  of  our  cerebral  activity. 

(6)  A  very  important  phenomenon  of  consciousness  takes 
place  by  the  recalling  (ecphoria)  of  passed  activity  complexes 
of  the  brain — i.e.,  by  the  play  of  engrams  or  imaginations.  One 
deals  in  this  case  with  the  linking  together  (as  far  as  time  and 
space  are  concerned)  of  the  brain  activity — i.e.,  with  the  rela- 
tive illumination  of  the  latter  by  means  of  the  superconscious- 
ness. It  is  especially  on  this  point  that  hypnotism  throws  an 


18  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

important  light.  The  whole  process  of  memory  is  in  itself  quite 
independent  from  consciousness,  and  shows  some  very  interest- 
ing laws.1  We  recognize,  however,  the  laws  of  memory  psy- 
chologically chiefly  in  ourselves.  But  it  is  incorrect  to  contrast 
a  conceived  memory  with  the  organic  or  "  unconceived  "  mem- 
ory. There  is  only  one  memory,  and  that  is  composed  of  (a) 
the  reception  of  molecular  traces  (engrams)  of  every  brain 
action,  and,  indeed,  of  every  nerve  action;  (&)  the  reviving 
(ecphoria)  of  the  same;  and  (c)  sometimes  the  recognition — 
i.e.,  the  identification  (homophonia) — of  the  activity  which  has 
been  restimulated  by  the  first  named  (time  localization). 

Whether  consciousness  is  or  is  not  subjectively  demonstrable 
in  one  or  other  of  these  processes  has  actually  nothing  at  all  to 
do  with  the  subject,  even  if  we  are  inclined  to  be  convinced 
subjectively  to  the  contrary. 

The  subjective  reflections  of  consciousness  can  not  only  be 
dismissed  and  reintroduced  into  the  actual  impressions  of  mem- 
ory ad  libitum  (suggested  amnesia),  but  recognition  can  be 
counterfeited  by  suggestion — i.e.,  a  quite  new  mental  process 
can  produce,  by  means  of  suggestion,  the  erroneous  conscious- 
ness of  a  remembrance  of  that  which  has  taken  place  once 
(falsification  of  memory). 

For  example,  it  is  absolutely  immaterial  for  the  later  con- 
sciousness of  an  individual  whether  I  render  by  means  of  sug- 
gestion a  usually  painful  nerve  irritation — e.g.,  the  extraction 
of  a  tooth — painless  during  the  moment  in  which  it  is  taking 
place,  or  whether,  after  the  pain  has  really  been  perceived  dur- 
ing consciousness,  I  banish  the  memory  of  the  perceived  pain 
completely  and  permanently  from  the  memory  by  suggestion. 
In  both  cases,  as  I  have  been  able  to  prove  experimentally,  the 
individual  retains  the  same  firm  conscious  conviction,  that  the 
tooth  was  extracted  painlessly. 

1In  a  published  lecture  ("The  Memory  and  its  Abnormalities,"  Zurich: 
Orel  Fuessli,  1885)  I  discussed  these  questions  minutely — for  the  most  part, 
according  to  Ribot — but  I  made  the  one  mistake  in  calling  the  consciousness 
an  activity.  It  is  true  that  no  consciousness  can  exist  without  activity  of 
the  brain,  but  one  must  not  designate  this  activity  with  the  word  "  conscious- 
ness." On  the  other  hand,  in  this  lecture  I  interpreted  Bering's  ideas  on 
instinct  and  memory  correctly,  although  I  had  not  followed  this  out  further, 
as  Semon  has  done.  I  only  dimly  realized  the  importance  of  this. 


CONSCIOUSNESS  19 

Ribot  ("  Memory  and  its  Abnormalities ")  believes  that 
recognition,  taken  as  meaning  the  "  becoming  conceived  "  by 
the  memory,  belongs  only  to  consciousness.  This  is,  however, 
excluded  after  what  we  have  seen,  since  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  the  unrecognized  in  the  activity  of  the  brain.  One  can  even 
prove  recognition  in  insects — e.g.,  bees  and  ants — as  well  as  the 
fixing  of  engrains,  their  association  and  their  ecphoria,  with 
certainty. 

One  gathers  from  this  what  a  very  important  part  amnesia 
plays  in  those  processes  which  we  call  conceived  or  unconceived. 
That  which  we  look  on  as  unconceived  by  us  has  obviously  only 
lost  the  subjective  connection  with  our  superconceived  brain 
activity  through  so-called  functional  amnesia. 

One  can  therefore  accept  that,  when  a  marked  activity  of  the 
brain  of  recent  date  has  been  forgotten  to  the  consciousness, 
either  by  means  of  suggestion  or  spontaneously,  this  means  that 
an  inhibitory  mechanism  has  come  into  action,  which  prevents 
a  more  marked  revival  (ecphoria)  of  this  activity.  The  cutting 
off  of  the  reflections  of  the  superconsciousness  obviously  usually 
indicates  an  inhibition,  while  conversely  those  processes  which 
act  by  increasing  stimulation  of  the  brain  call  forth  such  reflec- 
tions, or  render  them  more  intense. 

In  this  way  we  again  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  living 
nerve  substance,  nerve  activity,  and  consciousness  are  three 
forms  of  appearances  of  the  same  thing  in  their  relations  to 
ourselves,  which  we  have  abstracted  by  analysis,  and  are  not 
three  separate  things.  In  consideration  of  their  nature,  sub- 
jectivism, energy,  and  matter  are  identical,  and  are  revealed 
to  us  in  their  most  complicated  and  most  complete  form  as 
cerebrum  and  mind. 

All  that  has  been  said  so  far  only  refers  to  our  usual  waking 
consciousness.  The  subjective  contents  of  this,  taken  from  a 
monistic  point  of  view,  can  only  be  a  synthetic  symbol  of  the 
combination  of  cerebral  activities  which  momentarily  heightens 
the  subjective  reflex  at  the  time  when  they  take  place.  These 
activities  are  linked  together  by  associations,  and  are  capable 
of  being  more  or  less  completely  recalled  at  any  time  by  the 
memory — i.e.,  are  capable  of  being  ecphorized. 


20  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Still,  we  all  possess  a  second  consciousness  —  the  dream  or 
sleep  consciousness  —  which  does  differ  considerably,  qualita- 
tively speaking,  from  the  waking  consciousness.  The  study  of 
its  contents,  however,  offers  the  most  striking  confirmation  of 
the  views  expressed  above  (see  Chapter  IV.,  section  16). 

Our  perception  during  waking  consciousness  gains  a  partial, 
imperfect  insight  into  this  condition  by  means  of  the  remem- 
brance of  dreams.  It  will  be  necessary  to  return  to  this  later, 
but  it  must  be  pointed  out  here  that  the  subjectively  differing 
quality  of  the  dream  consciousness  must  correspond  to  an  ob- 
jectively differing  quality  of  the  brain  activity  during  sleep. 
If  the  difference  were  absolute,  in  all  probability  our  waking 
consciousness  would  have  no  knowledge  of  our  dream  conscious- 
ness. But  this  is  not  so.  There  are  often  gradual  transitions, 
which  cause  the  connection,  and  which  carry  over  certain  ill- 
defined  remembrances,  associated  with  the  subjective  reflection, 
from  the  sleep  activity  to  the  waking  activity  of  the  brain,  and 
the  reverse. 

In  certain  peculiar  cases  of  somnambulism  two  or  more  con- 
sciousnesses (the  author  apologizes  for  the  use  of  the  plural 
here)  which  are  sharply  differentiated  from  one  another  have 
been  observed,  and  various  theories  have  been  built  up  from 
this.  These  consciousnesses  cannot  only  follow  one  another  in 
point  of  time  (alternately  appear),  but  they  can  exist  simulta- 
neously in  the  same  brain  (the  double  ego  and  automatic  writ- 
ing of  Max  Dessoir).1  These  extraordinary  occurrences,  when 
considered  in  the  light  of  monism  and  hypnotism,  no  longer 
appear  to  be  so  inexplicable,  if  we  regard  our  waking  conscious- 
ness simply  as  the  introspection  of  an  associated  chain  of  cere- 
bral activities  —  that  is,  of  the  most  important,  highest,  and  most 
concentrated  activities.  There  is  nothing  which  prevents  the 
existence  in  the  same  brain  of  other  chains  of  activity,  which 
also  possess  their  connection  with  introspection,  but  which  are 


Desspir,  "The  Double  Ego,"  1889  (Berlin:  W.  Karl  Sigismund). 
Dessoir  very  rightly  and  carefully  says  at  the  end  of  this  most  interesting  and 
instructive  study  :  "  Human  personality  consists  of  at  least  two  spheres,  which 
can  be  schematically  divided  from  each  other."  Dessoir  calls  waking  con- 
sciousness "  superconsciousness,"  and  he  calls  the  other  consciousness,  which  is 
less  well  recognized  by  our  waking  consciousness  (dream  consciousness,  second 
consciousness,  etc.),  "hypoconsciousness"  (Unterbewusstseiri). 


DOUBLE   CONSCIOUSNESS — HYPOCONSCIOUSNESS  21 

prevented  from  becoming  linked  to  the  first  by  an  inhibitory 
mechanism.  Connections  which  are  apparently  unconceived  as 
far  as  the  memory  is  concerned,  and  which  are  only  interrupted 
from  subjective  illumination,  can  and  must  be  present  in  both 
chains,  for  the  influence  of  one  chain  on  the  other  is  ascer- 
tainable. 

I  once  drove  in  a  carriage,  absorbed  in  thought.  As  the  car- 
riage passed  a  certain  place,  where  I  was  accustomed  to  alight 
from  the  electric  tram  to  take  a  steep  footpath,  I  felt  or  believed 
that  I  had  got  out  and  was  beginning  the  steep  climb.  The 
consciousness  of  sitting  in  the  carriage  and  of  being  driven  had 
disappeared  for  the  moment  from  the  chain  of  my  supercon- 
sciousness,  and  had  been  replaced  by  a  kind  of  dream  halluci- 
nation, although  the  abstract  train  of  my  thoughts  had  not  in 
the  least  been  disturbed  thereby.  Suddenly  I  became  aware  of 
my  illusion. 

In  other  words,  it  is  possible  for  differing  activities,  which 
occur  simultaneously  or  which  follow  one  another  in  the  same 
brain,  to  possess  common  elementary  coordinating  connections, 
and  nevertheless  to  appear  to  us  subjectively  to  be  completely, 
or  nearly  completely,  divided  from  one  another,  in  virtue  of 
their  waves  of  higher  intensity  or  synthetized  concentration, 
which  alone  are  illuminated  by  the  conceived  memory.  Ex- 
ample: dream  and  waking. 

It  is  a  known  fact  that  one  need  not  turn  to  dream  con- 
sciousness in  order  to  find  an  interruption  in  the  linking  of 
our  thinking  capabilities.  One  can  understand  that  during 
every  more  marked  concentration  of  thought — e.g.,  in  the  case 
of  the  erroneously  termed  "  absent-minded  "  savant — a  number 
of  accustomed  activities  of  the  brain  continue  to  take  place, 
and  at  the  same  time  lose  all  subjective  connection  with  the 
contents,  which  is  concentrated  on  abstract  ideas  of  the  chief 
consciousness — i.e.,  the  chief  cerebral  activity.  For  example, 
I  frequently  have  the  habit  of  continuously  humming  melodies 
softly  to  myself  unconsciously,  when  engaged  in  concentrating 
work.  I  attempted  to  catch  myself  when  doing  this,  and  to 
write  down  the  names  of  the  tunes  (popular  melodies).  In 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks  I  have  caught  myself  in  this  way  at 


22  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

twenty-four  different  songs,  some  of  which  are  old  melodies  of 
my  childhood,  of  which  I  never  consciously  think,  and  some 
of  which  are  songs  learned  later  in  life.  One  frequently  calls 
this  activity  "  unconceived."  Dessoir  attributes  his  "  hypo- 
consciousness  "  to  this.  But  in  reality  there  are  innumerable 
transitions,  interruptions,  renewals,  etc.  The  chain  of  con- 
sciousness of  many  people  rapidly  loses  the  connection,  while 
that  of  others  (people  who  are  said  to  possess  a  "  good  mem- 
ory," as  well  as  observant  people)  has  very  extensive  and 
cohesive  linking  capacity.  The  characteristics  of  concentration 
(attention)  and  imagination  are  usually  badly  developed  in  the 
latter.  The  reflection  of  consciousness  can  appear  to  us  to  be 
clear,  moderately  clear,  and  hazy.  Its  field  can  reveal  itself 
as  being  wide  or  moderately  wide,  both  in  regard  to  time  and 
space.  An  important  relationship  exists  between  the  intensity 
and  duration  (Grashey's  aphasia)  of  the  brain  activity  on  the 
one  hand,  and  its  conceived  capability  of  remembering  on  the 
other. 

We  cannot  receive  a  direct  subjective  insight  into  the  con- 
sciousness other  than  our  superconsciousness,  or  at  the  most 
than  the  hypoconsciousness  of  our  cerebrum,  no  matter  whether 
these  belong  to  other  nerve  centers  of  our  own  nervous  system  or 
to  other  people  or  animals.  That  which  we  know  of  other  peo- 
ple depends  on  the  conclusions  of  analogy  obtained  by  speech. 
And  even  the  insight  which  we  obtain  into  the  dream  conscious- 
ness, or  possibly  into  a  second  or  third  consciousness  (cases 
quoted  by  MacNish,  Azam,  etc.),  is  mostly  scanty  enough.  If 
the  telepathists  were  right,  this  would  certainly  be  otherwise. 

Nevertheless,  we  can  assume — and  analogy  almost  forces  us 
to  do  so  theoretically — that  the  activity  of  other  nerve  centers — 
e.g.,  cerebellum,  mid-brain,  medulla,  spinal  cord,  ganglia — too, 
possesses  an  analogous  subjective  reflection.  But  this  spinal 
cord  capability,  to  choose  one  for  an  example,  remains  abso- 
lutely without  any  subjective — i.e.,  consciously  linked — associa- 
tion with  our  consciousness  of  self — i.e.,  with  our  cerebral 
superconsciousness.  The  activity  of  the  subcerebral  centers 
only  becomes  conceived  by  us,  if  it  is  transformed  into  an 
activity  of  the  cerebrum  by  means  of  wavelike  transmission  in 


SUBJECTIVE   SENSATIONS  23 

the  latter.  For  example,  after  destruction  of  our  cervical  spinal 
cord  our  superconsciousness  on  the  brain  side  of  the  rupture 
remains  completely  unscathed.  Innumerable  facts  relating  to 
this  in  the  physiology,  anatomy,  and  pathology  of  the  brain  are 
only  explainable  by  means  of  this  assumption. 

The  most  obscure  chapter  in  the  physiology  of  the  central 
nervous  system  is  that  of  the  function  of  the  so-called  basal 
ganglia  of  the  brain,  the  mid-brain,  and  the  cerebellum.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  unget-at-able  position  of  these  organs  is  not 
alone  responsible  for  the  difficulties.  One  has  to  deal  with  the 
fact  that  our  subjective  "  ego  " — i.e.,  our  cerebral  supercon- 
sciousness— does  not  stand  in  any  subjective  relationship  with 
the  consciousness  subjected  to  it,  although  its  activity  can  be 
proved  to  work  objectively  in  harmonizing  concord  with  the 
cerebral  activity.  In  short,  we  call  all  these  obscure  processes 
sometimes  unconceived  brain  activity,  sometimes  brain  reflexes, 
sometimes  brain  automatisms,  and  so  on;  but  by  using  the  ex- 
pression "  unconceived  "  one  risks  bringing  these  processes  into 
contradistinction  to  the  contents  of  our  superconsciousness,  and 
such  a  contrast  is  certainly  not  possible. 

The  fact,  that  an  animal  deprived  of  its  cerebrum  cries  out 
when  the  trigeminus  is  stimulated,  seems  to  show  that  a  pro- 
duction of  the  sensation  of  pain  takes  place  in  the  mid-brain  or 
cerebellum,  and  therefore  that  this  center  also  possesses  its  con- 
sciousness for  sensations  of  pain;  but  the  pain — i.e.,  the  sub- 
jective sensation — appears  in  the  cerebral  consciousness  of  the 
animal  when  the  stimulation  is  transmitted  from  this  center  to 
the  cerebrum.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  same  applies  to  us. 
A  poor  youth,  who  had  a  transverse  lesion  of  the  spinal  cord, 
laughed  in  astonishment  wThen  he  saw  that  his  foot  was  drawn 
up  in  response  to  the  application  of  the  actual  cautery  to  the 
sole.  He  felt  absolutely  nothing.  "  Still,"  I  said  to  him,  "  it 
hurts  your  spinal  cord,  even  though  you — i.e.,  your  brain — 
does  not  recognize  it."  In  the  same  way  the  physiologist  Golz's 
well-known  dog,  whose  cerebrum  had  been  removed,  showed  a 
number  of  simple  inferior  mental  capabilities  which  corre- 
sponded to  the  mental  life  of  the  "  lower  order  "  brain  centers 
of  the  dog. 


24  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Further  conclusions  arrived  at  by  analogy  show  that  we  must 
accede  various  forms  of  consciousness,  corresponding  to  the 
complicatedness  of  their  structure  and  size,  to  all  the  various 
nerve  centers  of  the  animal  world.  The  chief  consciousness — 
i.e.,  the  consciousness  of  the  guiding,  reasoning  chief  activity 
or  brain  activity — must  always  be  associated  with  the  most  com- 
plicated, largest  centers.  The  experiments  of  Isidor  Steiner1 
appear  to  prove  that  the  chief  activity  in  fishes  takes  place  in 
the  mid-brain.  The  same  author2  believes  that  one  can  define 
the  brain  as  "  the  general  center  of  movement  in  connection 
with  the  functional  activity  of  one  at  least  of  the  nerves  of  the 
higher  senses."  This  definition  has  a  great  deal  in  its  favor, 
but  it  is  too  absolute  and  too  limited.  The  brain  is  merely  the 
largest  and  the  most  complicated  nerve  center.  It  has,  there- 
fore, the  most  developed  and  the  most  reasoning  activities — i.e., 
possesses  those  activities  which  are  capable  of  fitting  all  that  is 
most  complicated  in  the  outer  world  and  in  the  brains  of  other 
beings.  In  consequence,  this  activity  takes  the  general  leading 
part  in  the  alternating  action  of  the  motor  centers. 

Numerous  experiments  and  comparative  biological  and 
anatomical  studies  have  led  me  to  believe,  that  I  am  more  than 
ever  justified  in  placing  the  brain  of  ants  in  the  corpora  pedun- 
culata  of  the  upper  cesophageal  ganglion.3  At  a  later  date  I 
expressed  my  opinion  on  the  question  of  comparative  psychology 
more  minutely.4 

The  conception  of  consciousness,  as  we  define  it,  is  an  ele- 
mentary conception  which  cannot  be  further  divided  up.  It 
is  only  the  activity  of  the  brain,  which  is  reflected  by  it,  which 
can  be  divided  up.  It  therefore  appears  that  we  can  ascribe 
generalities  to  the  conception  of  consciousness,  as  well  as  to  the 
conception  of  energy,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  on  account  of  its 
subjective  existence  it  is  only  possible  to  prove  it  by  indirect 

1  Isidor  Steiner,  "On  the  Cerebrum  of  Vertebrate  Fishes"  (Reports  of  the 
Berl.  Academy  of  Phys.  Math.  Class,  January,  1886). 

2  Ibid.,  "The  Function  of  the  Central  Nervous  System  of  Intervertebrate 
Animals"  (ibid.,  January,  1890). 

3"Fourmis  de  la  Suisse,"  1874. 

4  "The  Physical  Capabilities  of  Ants  and  other  Insects,"  with  an  Appendix 
on  the  peculiarities  of  the  sense  of  smell  of  these  insects  (Miinchen:  E.  Rhein- 
hardt,  1901). 


MIND   AND   MATTER  25 

induction  with  the  required  certainty  outside  the  subject  in 
complicated  nerve  centers.  It  may  appear  to  be  very  easy  to 
disprove  my  view  on  this  subject  by  means  of  syllogisms,  but 
they  appeal  forcibly  to  every  investigator  who  thinks  induc- 
tively. Otherwise,  how  could  an  unanalyzable  subjectivism 
suddenly  be  produced  which  cannot  be  compared  with  any 
known  natural  phenomenon,  and  which  cannot  be  derived  from 
any  phenomenon  ?  From  what  should  it  be  produced  ?  Should 
it  be  produced  with  the  first  neuron,  with  the  first  living  cell  ? 
Mature  reveals  itself  to  this  very  subjectivism. 

If  one  wishes  to  avoid  again  and  again  arriving  in  the 
"  vicious  circle,"  in  the  empty  battle  of  words  conducted  by  a 
sterile  scholastic  dualism,  one  has  only  to  study  these  argu- 
ments deeply.  One  will  then  see  that  one  cannot  divide  the 
substratum,  which  causes  the  abstract  conception  of  conscious- 
ness as  we  understand  it  from  the  substratum  of  the  conception 
of  energy.  As  soon  as  one  attempts  such  a  division,  one  is 
drifted  in  one  of  two  directions.  Either  one  accepts  the 
"  haunting "  of  all  spiritism  and  spiritualism,  which  assigns 
all  sorts  of  qualities  and  personal  power  over  "  matter,"  which 
is  individualized  in  the  same  way,  to  the  independent  spirit  or 
independent  spirits  (why  not  attribute  legs  and  arms  to  these 
as  well  ?)  ;  or  one  must  turn  to  uncompromised  materialism, 
which  is  untenable  from  the  point  of  view  of  philosophy.  This 
materialism  seeks  to  construe  or  change  "  mind  "  and  "  con- 
sciousness "  into  the  equally  unknown  abstract  ideas  "  atom  " 
and  "  energy."  Thereby  one  only  enters  on  a  stupid  play  of 
words.  Man  analyzes  the  phenomena  down  to  the  abstract  ideas 
which  appear  to  him  to  be  the  elementary  conceptions  of  energy, 
consciousness,  qualitative  difference,  time  and  space.  The  last- 
named  three  he  deals  with  as  ideas  relatively  lying  between  the 
phenomena,  and  not  as  a  phenomenon  itself.  But  these  things 
are  covered  by  monistic  metaphysical  conceptions,  which  we  can 
only  infer  from  the  phenomena  of  undoubtedly  true  things  of 
the  world,  which  must  include  all  our  apparently  elementary 
conceptions.  It  (the  metaphysical  conception)  appears  as  the 
essence  of  the  universe,  as  a  real  but  unfathomed  conception  of 
God,  which  stands  completely  outside  the  power  of  our  under- 


26  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

standing  (this  must  not  be  understood  to  mean  "personal"), 
or  the  original  conception  of  the  unknown  in  the  world.  The 
fact,  that  we  cannot  investigate  the  monistic  existence  of  things, 
does  not  prevent  us  from  concluding  inductively  as  to  its 
identity  of  existence,  for  we  realize  that  all  the  phenomena 
which  are  available  for  our  power  of  understanding  concur 
with  this.1 

Following  up  our  definition  of  consciousness  as  the  subjective 
side  of  concentrated  cerebral  activities,  we  find  that  it  is  the 
latter  which  contains  the  power  of  reasoning.  But  this  must  not 
be  accepted  in  the  sense  of  Hartmann's  "  clairvoyant  uncon- 
ceived,"  which  this  philosopher  believed  that  he  could  detect  in 
instinct.  Instinct  is  a  secondary  automatic  product,  or,  as  Dar- 
win, Delbo3uf,  and  others  have  expressed  it,  a  crystallized,  fixed 
intelligence.  The  plastic  power  of  modification,  with  its  con- 
centration and  its  laborious  combining  work  of  adaptation  and 
revival,  comes  first.  It  is  this  power  of  modification  which 
accommodates  itself  as  a  plastic  capability  of  reaction  of  the 
nervous  system  adequately  and  with  increasing  complicated- 
ness  (more  reasonably)  to  the  world  and  the  nervous  functions 
of  other  beings.  Instinct  is  phylogentically  a  crystallized  prod- 
uct of  the  plastic  nerve  work,  which  is  automatically  inti- 
mately adapted  to  a  given  complex  of  energy  which  is  fixed, 
and  which,  taken  as  a  whole,  cannot  be  further  adapted.  Habit 
is  that  mechanism  of  the  individual  central  nervous  system  by 
means  of  which  an  automatizing  and  organizing  of  the  plastic 
activity  of  the  brain  takes  place  with  increasing  loss  of  plas- 
ticity. This  occurs  with  the  help  of  memory  and  of  repetition 
of  similar  reactions  of  the  said  plastic  activity  of  the  brain. 
The  instincts  are  (probably  by  means  of  the  suitable  natural 
selection  of  engrams,  which  have,  in  the  course  of  generations, 
gradually  been  inherited,  accumulated,  and  later  ecphorized) 
further  developed  automatisms  gradually  fixed  by  the  law  of 
inheritance.  That  a  human  being  at  his  birth  scarcely  pos- 
sesses any  complete  instincts,  but  only  unalterable  (walking, 
speaking)  or  alterable  inherited  dispositions,  is  explainable  by 

1  For  further  particulars  I  refer  the  reader  to  my  lecture  on  "  Brain  and 
"Mind,"  delivered  at  the  Viennese  "  Naturforscherversammlung,"  and  pub- 
lished by  E.  Strauss,  in  Bonn  (6th  edition,  1899). 


INTUITION  27 

the  fact  that  at  birth  the  brain  is  still  quite  embryonic,  and  the 
nerve  fibers  in  parts  have  not  yet  got  their  medullary  sheaths. 
Those  inherited  dispositions  which  are  unavoidably  realized 
later  in  every  normal  individual  should  be  placed  on  the  same 
level  as  the  instincts.  Just  as  a  reasoning  conscious  human 
being  possesses  his  habits  and  instincts,  an  insect  possesses,  be- 
sides its  extraordinary  fixed  and  complicated  instincts,  its 
meager,  weak,  plastic  reasoning  power,  which  always  shows 
itself  in  its  full  poverty  when  one  experimentally  places  unfor- 
seen  obstacles,  such  as  do  not  exist  elsewhere  in  Xature,  in  the 
way  of  the  sequence  of  actions  of  the  instinct.  I  have  carried 
out  a  series  of  such  experiments.1  Fab  re,2  who  was  misled  by 
the  great  chasm  lying  between  the  seeming  intelligence  of  the 
instinct  and  the  boundless  weakness  of  the  plastic  reasoning 
reaction  of  insects,  fell  into  the  error  of  denying  the  latter, 
although  a  careful  reader  can  himself  diagnose  them  from  the 
magnificent  observations  of  this  author.  In  his  last  essays  he 
does,  however,  at  last  withdraw  this,  and  allows  a  discernment 
in  insects.  Memory,  perception,  association  of  remembrances, 
and  simple  conclusions  arising  from  these,  have  been  incon- 
testably  proved  to  exist  by  me,3  by  Wasmann,  and  by  Buttel 
Reepen. 

All  the  logical  conclusions  which  our  brain  activity  forms 
below  the  level  of  the  reflection  of  our  chief  consciousness  are 
what  we  call  intuition,  instinctive  reasoning  and  the  like.  These 
conclusions  are  more  rapid  and  safer  than  those  which  we  are 
conscious  of,  but  they  can  go  astray  and  err,  especially  when 
they  come  into  contact  with  an  unknown  territory.  We  must 
regard  pure  central  (abstract  ideas,  emotion)  and  coordinating 
activities  of  the  brain  as  well  as  those  activities  which  are  bound 
by  centripetal  elements  (perceptions)  or  by  centrifugal  ele- 
ments (impulses)  as  conclusions  of  this  kind  or  associations 
of  an  intuitive  nature.  For  example,  we  form  many  more 
abstract  ideas  below  the  level  of  our  superconsciousness  than  we 
imagine.  To  repeat,  it  is  not  permissible  to  place  unconceived 
and  conceived  activities  in  contradistinction.  One  may  only 
compare  the  actual  plastic  activity  of  reason  or  the  power  of 
1  Loc.  cit.  *  "  Souvenir  Entomologiques."  3  Loc.  cit. 


28  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

adaptation,  which  is  usually  superconceived,  with  the  more  or 
less  fixed  automatic,  crystallized  intelligence  which  one  calls 
instinct,  and  which  is  for  the  most  part  hypoconceived ;  but 
even  this  comparison  may  only  be  relative — i.e.,  gradual. 

A  psychologically  interesting  instance  of  the  phenomenon 
of  consciousness  is  met  with  in  conceived  and  unconceived  de- 
ception. Let  us  take  the  case  of  John  Smith  A.,  who  imperson- 
ates Lord  X.  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  sum  of  money,  and 
of  John  Smith  B.,  who  through  a  delusion  believes  that  he  is 
Lord  X.  What  is  it  that  is  conceived  by  A.  and  unconceived  by 
B.  ?  It  is  simply  the  difference  ratio  between  two  chains  of 
association — firstly,  the  chain  of  association  of  the  really  ex- 
perienced self -personality ;  and  secondly  that  of  the  representa- 
tion about  Lord  X.  The  sharper  this  difference  ratio  of  the  two 
dynamic  association  chains  is  marked,  the  sharper  will  be,  as 
a  rule,  the  reflection  of  consciousness,  and  the  less  often  will 
confusion  between  reality  and  imagination  be  met  with. 

But  it  is  clear  that  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  John  Smith 
A.  to  falsely  create  in  the  mind  of  others  the  impression  that 
both  representation  chains  are  identical  must  produce  in  his 
own  brain  an  intensely  associated  work  of  both  representation 
chains  which  aspires  toward  rendering  them  relatively  identical. 
If  John  Smith  A.  possesses  a  strongly  marked  imagination,  this 
identification  will  prove  easy  for  him,  and  the  working  of  the 
difference  ratio  will  be  weakened,  for  well-marked  impressions 
of  the  senses  and  accentuations  of  feelings  will  increase  the  like- 
ness and  blot  out  the  differences.  The  deception  will  become 
at  the  same  time  naturally  better  and  more  unconscious,  but 
may  perhaps  fail  through  carelessness.  If  he  possesses  a  very 
critical,  objective,  speculative  mind,  on  the  contrary,  the  dif- 
ference ratio  of  both  chains  will  be  very  sharply  accentuated, 
and  thereby  the  identification  of  these  rendered  more  difficult. 
The  deception  in  this  case  will  be  less  natural,  less  skilled,  and 
more  conscious;  but  it  may  be  better  cloaked  by  great  precau- 
tion. But  other  combinations  could  lead  to  similar  results. 
For  example,  imagination  and  criticism  could  exist  simulta- 
neously, and  the  latter  would  correct  the  deception.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  want  of  ethical  conceptions  and  impulses  can 


"JOUER  AU  NATUREL"  29 

increase  the  becoming  accustomed  to  the  lie.  This  would  gradu- 
ally weaken  the  referred  to  ratio  of  difference.  Or  an  exagge- 
rated superficiality  and  want  of  criticism  could  lead  to  the  same 
results  without  the  assistance  of  a  particularly  well-developed 
imagination.  There  are  people  in  whose  brains  only  very  in- 
distinct and  weak  difference  ratios  exist  between  that  which  is 
imagined  and  that  which  has  actually  taken  place.  This  might 
not  be  due  to  the  want  or  excess  of  any  one  special  characteris- 
tic. When  the  difference  ratio  is  apparently  absent — or,  at 
least,  not  recognized — this  may  be  due  to  a  want  of  the  asso- 
ciation of  both  chains  of  activity  or  of  the  illumination  of 
consciousness  of  the  same.  The  one  is  illuminated  by  the  super- 
consciousness,  while  the  other  is  illuminated  by  the  hypocon- 
sciousness.  We  can  observe  this  especially  well  in  dreams  and 
in  the  hypnotized.  One  can  then  see  that  the  imaginative  liar 
and  the  pathological  swindler  take  an  intermediate  place  be- 
tween the  critically  conscious  deceiver  and  the  madman  (or  the 
dreamer  or  the  completely  hypnotized  person).  One  can  further 
see  why  they  play  their  parts  much  better  than  the  conscious 
deceiver.  The  French  call  this  jouer  au  naturel  (Tartarin). 
But  when  the  tendency  toward  a  more  or  less  complete  identifi- 
cation of  chains  of  imagination  and  chains  of  reality  frequently 
occurs  in  the  form  of  an  inherited  disposition  for  lying,  deceiv- 
ing, or  even  for  exaggerating,  one  must  not  forget  that  this 
disposition  (which  exists  in  some  degree  even  in  the  best  of  us) 
can  be  increased  by  habit  or  practice,  or  can  be  conquered  by 
the  reverse  practice.  But,  above  all,  I  wish  to  point  out  that  the 
chief  difference  in  the  degree  of  the  antithesis — that  is,  of 
the  more  or  less  sharp  qualitative  and  quantitative  differentia- 
tion of  both  chains  of  activity — lies  in  the  brain,  and  does  not 
depend  on  whether  the  identification  or  the  non-identification 
is  subjectively  more  or  less  conceived  or  unconceived.  The 
stronger  or  weaker  illumination  of  consciousness  of  the  differ- 
ence is  actually  only  a  result  of  the  degree  of  intensity  of  the 
difference  ratio  itself.  I  would  advise  all  who  are  interested 
in  this  very  important  and  absorbing  question  to  study  Del- 
brueck's  excellent  work,  "  The  Pathological  Lie  and  the  Psy- 
chically Abnormal  Swindler"  (1891). 


30  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

APPEECEPTION. — Apperception  or  attention  corresponds,  as 
we  have  seen,  to  a  kind  of  macula  lutea  of  the  maximum  of  in- 
tensity of  the  thinking  activity  wandering  in  the  cerebral  neu- 
rons. The  thinking  activity  continuously  ecphorizes  the  old 
slumbering  associated  engrams,  strengthens  them  again,  and 
remodels  them  for  new  combinations,  or  discharges  them  centri- 
f ugally  for  actions.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  steadily  stimulated 
by  means  of  the  activity  of  the  senses,  especially  with  the  help 
of  voluntary  movements,  by  the  outer  world,  and  works  with 
the  latter  in  suitable  alternating  relationship.  The  intensity 
and  extent  of  the  attention  and  of  its  field  changes  constantly 
in  this  activity,  which  corresponds  to  that  of  actual  thinking. 

During  dreaming  and  in  the  hypnotic  state  its  activity  is 
altered,  is  obviously  inhibited  and  slowed,  but  is  not  on  this 
account  necessarily  weakened.  The  phenomenon  of  dreams  and 
suggestions,  being  on  the  one  hand  highly  dissociated,  and  on 
the  other  extremely  delicately  apperceived,  is  a  puzzling  but 
nevertheless  a  true  one.  Extremely  delicate  apperceptions  can 
actually  follow  one  another  very  rapidly  in  certain  directions 
in  the  hypnotic  state.  I  will  not  dwell  on  this  point  here  (see 
Chapter  IV.,  section  16). 

It  is  well  known  that  illumination  of  consciousness  appears 
to  us  subjectively  to  increase  with  the  intensity  of  perception; 
but,  as  we  have  seen,  one  makes  a  great  mistake  if  one  deduces 
from  this  that  subjectivism — i.e.,  consciousness,  sensation — 
are  wanting  in  toto  or  in  part  from  the  unconcentrated  or  sepa- 
rately concentrated  cerebral  activities  which  lie  outside  the  field 
of  perception.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  our  other  thinking  activi- 
ties are  only  apparently  more  or  less  unconceived  during  very 
intense  concentrated  perception.  Its  combination  with  the  chief 
activity  of  perception,  and  thus  with  the  reflection  of  supercon- 
sciousness,  is  loosened,  and  for  this  reason  it  appears  in  the  light 
of  the  last  named  to  be  dim  or  to  disappear  entirely.  As  a  rule, 
association  and  amnesia  go  hand  in  hand.  And  functional 
amnesia  only  means  the  entire  or  partial  interruption  of  the 
reflection  of  consciousness  of  various  chains  of  activities. 


CHAPTEK    II 

THE   RELATIONSHIP   OF    NERVE   ACTIVITY    TO    NERVE    SUBSTANCE 
AND  TO  THE  CONDITIONS  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS 

IT  is  no  longer  necessary  to  demonstrate  that  the  nerve  activity 
is  evidenced  by  increased  metabolism  and  raising  of  the  tem- 
perature. Visible  changes  in  the  nerve  cells  after  intense  stimu- 
lation of  a  nerve  have  been  demonstrated.  One  is  scarcely  able 
to  decide  whether  the  chemical  process  which  takes  place  in 
nerve  activity,  as  such  represents  the  nervous  conduction  of  the 
stimulus  (neurokyme),  or  whether  it  produces  more  physical 
molecular  wave  movements.  It  is  possible  that  in  the  mys- 
teries of  the  molecular  processes  of  organic  life  the  chemical  and 
the  physical  are  not  always  capable  of  being  so  sharply  dif- 
ferentiated. 

We  are  justified  in  placing  the  processes  which  we  call  in- 
hibition and  its  reverse,  increasing  of  stimulation  and  open- 
ing up  new  paths  (Bahnung  of  Exner),  in  the  substance  of 
the  ganglion  cells  and  in  the  terminal  branchlets  or  clubs  of  the 
neurones — that  is,  in  those  portions  of  each  bordering  on  the 
other. 

Certain  anatomical  facts  appear  to  me  to  be  important.  The 
phenomena  of  memory  appear  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  a 
destruction  of  brain  elements,  and  a  substitution  of  the  same 
by  new  elements  in  the  course  of  the  post-embryonic  life.  This 
question  caused  me  to  have  the  matter  investigated,  and  I 
therefore  directed  Dr.  Schiller  (at  that  time  my  assistant  in 
Burghoelzli,  and  now  Director  in  Wyl)  to  determine  whether 
the  number  of  the  elements  in  the  central  nervous  system  in- 
creased after  birth  or  not.  According  to  his  results,  it  appears 
that  the  number  does  not  increase  in  the  oculo-motor  nerve  of 

31 


32  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

the  cat,  but  that  the  size  of  the  elements  does  increase.1  It  is 
therefore  extremely  probable  that  the  same  nerve  elements  per- 
sist during  the  whole  post-embryonic  life.  Birge  had  already 
shown  that  the  number  of  ganglion  cells  in  the  motor  nerve 
nuclei  of  the  frog  corresponds  to  the  number  of  fibers.  Patho- 
logical foci  in  the  brain,  and  also  the  results  of  Gudden's  brain 
operations  on  animals,  prove  that  the  brain  elements,  once  they 
are  destroyed,  cannot  be  formed  afresh.  Only  the  axis  cylinder 
of  peripheral  nerves  can  grow  again  through  the  nodes  of  Ran- 
vier  as  long  as  the  corresponding  ganglion  cell  is  intact. 

His  and  I  attempted  to  prove  independently  of  one  another, 
in  1886-1887,  the  indivisibility  of  nerve  elements  by  means  of 
important  facts.2  Basing  an  opinion  on  the  embryonic  growth 
of  fibers  from  cells  (His),  and  on  the  dependence  of  the  fiber 
on  the  cell  and  the  cell  on  the  fiber  in  pathology  and  in  experi- 
mental research  (Forel),  we  denied  the  occurrence  of  ana- 
stomosis, and  claimed  that  each  fiber  belongs  to  its  own  cell, 
existing  in  the  form  of  a  process.  Our  views  have  been  con- 
firmed later  by  Ramon  y  Cajal  and  Koelliker  histologically. 
Waldeyer  gave  the  nerve  element  (cell  with  its  dependent 
branching  fibers)  the  name  of  neuron,  and  the  whole  was  termed 
the  neurone  theory.  This  agrees  quite  well  with  Schiller's 
results. 

Nissl  then  studied  the  structure  of  the  ganglion  cells  more 
closely  by  means  of  staining  methods,  and  Apathy  demonstrated 
especially  the  fibrilla  both  in  the  sheathless  nerve  fibers  of  inter- 
vertebrate  animals  and  in  ganglion  cells  with  the  help  of  excel- 
lent staining.  The  last-named  undoubtedly  proved  the  exist- 
ence of  fibrilla  anastomosis  in  the  protoplasm  of  the  ganglion 
cells  of  the  leech.  Apathy  therefore  considers  that  the  neurone 
theory  can  be  refused,  since  he  propounds  the  theory  that  gang- 
lion cells  are  not  nerve  cells,  but  are  only  traversed  by  fibrilla. 
The  fibrilla  are  supposed  to  be  the  product  of  other  cells,  which 
he  calls  nerve  cells,  and  which  are  distributed  everywhere,  even 

1  Comptes  Rendus  de  VAcad.  des  Sciences,  September  30,  1889.  The  size 
of  fibers  of  the  adult  cat  is  six  to  eight  times  that  of  fibers  of  the  new-born 
cat. 

'His,  "The  Human  Spinal  Cord  and  Nerve  Roots";  and  Forel,  "Ob- 
servations on  the  Anatomy  of  the  Brain  and  their  Results."  (Arch.  /. 
Psychiatric). 


NERVE   ELEMENTS  33 

in  the  white  substance.  He  returns  to  Gerlach's  fiber  network. 
In  his  opinion,  the  fibrillum  is  the  nerve  element,  and  is  ana- 
tomically present  everywhere  in  the  gray  as  well  as  in  the  white 
substance.  He  considers  that  the  cells  of  Schwann's  sheath  and 
the  corresponding  cells  of  the  neuroglia  ("  intermediate  sub- 
stance," regarded  previously  as  connective  or  epithelial  tissue, 
and  not  as  nervous)  are  derived  from  the  nerve  fibrilla.  He 
therefore  calls  them  fibrillogenous  nerve  cells.  These  fibrillo- 
genous  nerve  cells  would  thus  continuously  be  able  to  form  new 
fibrilla  and  new  anastomoses,  even  in  the  central  nervous 
system. 

One  does  not  dispute,  and  has  never  disputed,  that  a  new 
formation  of  peripheral  nerve  elements  and  of  nerve  elements 
of  lower  animals  takes  place.  Without  this  assumption  it  would 
be  impossible  for  the  amputated  tail  of  a  lizard  to  regenerate. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  Apathy's  theory  does  not  agree  with  a 
number  of  important  facts,  and  the  physiological  experiments 
carried  out  by  Bethe,  on  wrhich  Apathy  bases  his  opinions,  do 
not  deserve  any  consideration,  since  Bethe  has  revealed  his 
suspicious  unreliability  in  dealing  with  other  subjects.  Still, 
Apathy's  results  and  views  were  warmly  welcomed,  for  they  led 
to  a  profounder  investigation  of  the  question.  The  later  works 
of  Ramon  y  Cajal,  Wolff,  Harrison,  and  others,  have  disproved 
Apathy's  views.  Harrison  has  shown  that  peripheral  motor 
nerves  grow  solely  from  the  cells  of  the  anterior  horns  after 
destruction  of  the  embryonic  site  of  the  sheath  of  Schwann. 

Matthias  Duval,  on  the  other  hand,  has  exaggerated  the 
neurone  theory  by  presuming  that  the  terminal  treelets  of  the 
branchings  of  the  fibers  of  a  neuron  are  possessed  with  amreboid 
movement.  He  attempts  thereby  to  explain  not  only  sleep 
(through  the  retraction  of  the  pseudopodia  and  breaking  off  of 
contact),  but  also  of  inhibition  and  conduction  of  stimuli. 
Wiedersheim  is  supposed  to  have  observed  something  of  a 
similar  nature  in  transparent  animals.  But,  for  all  that,  it 
appears  to  me  that  the  whole  subject  encroaches  on  the  terri- 
tory of  hypothetical  speculation. 

As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  the  most  important  proof  in  favor 
of  the  neurone  theory  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  histological  ap- 


34  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

pearances,  which  are  often  very  difficult  to  realize,  but  in  the 
facts  of  embryology  of  the  nervous  system  and  in  the  phenomena 
of  secondary  degenerations,  which  are  always  limited  to  the 
area  of  the  neuron,  no  matter  whether  one  attacks  the  cell  or 
the  dependent  fiber.  If  the  ganglion  cells  are  not  nervous 
structures,  what  are  they  there  for?  They  are  extremely  un- 
suitably placed  if  they  serve  for  the  nutrition  of  the  fibrilla. 
And  why  should  fibrilla  not  be  nourished  by  the  directly 
neighboring  blood  and  lymph  vessels,  like  all  other  body  ele- 
ments? But  if  the  ganglion  cell  plays  a  leading  part  in  the 
central  nerve  activity  (as  Hodge  and  others  have  shown  by  the 
appearance  of  its  exhaustion  following  this  activity),  one  can 
easily  understand  why  the  surrounding  tissue  (gray  substance) 
is  so  vascular,  while  the  fibers,  which  have  only  to  conduct, 
are  poorer  in  vessels. 

The  neurone  theory  thus  presumes  that  the  central  nervous 
system  is  made  up  of  a  number  of  larger  cell-fiber  systems, 
inside  which  each  cell-fiber  element  is,  relatively  speaking, 
equal  to  its  neighbor.  The  cell-fiber  element  stands  in  contigu- 
ous connection  (not  in  continuity)  with  its  neighbor  through 
side  branches  of  the  axis  cylinder  processes.  They  connect  dis- 
tant portions  of  the  gray  substance  by  means  of  fibrilla  bundles 
of  nerve  processes,  which  are  relatively  isolated  from  one  an- 
other, and  which  we  call  medullary  fibers,  in  such  a  way  that 
the  end  of  the  medullary  fiber  terminates  in  a  treelike  branch- 
ing on  the  surface  of  the  nerve  cell.  Besides,  there  are  nerve 
cells  of  a  second  category  (of  Golgi),  which  have  nerve  proc- 
esses, which  spend  themselves  in  branching  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  cell  (and  in  the  same  gray  substance  as  the 
cell  itself)  without  forming  one  or  more  medullary  fibers.  And, 
lastly,  there  are  muscle  neurons  the  terminal  branchings  of 
which  are  distributed  in  the  muscles.  The  neurone  theory, 
therefore,  presumes  that  the  ganglion  cells  are  fibrillogenous, 
and  not  the  neuroglia  cells.  According  to  this  theory,  the  fib- 
rillum  is  a  differentiation  of  protoplasm  of  the  ganglion  cell, 
having  a  specific  nerve  function. 

According  to  the  neurone  theory,  the  activity  of  the  nervous 
system  consists  of  the  following:  Certain  stimuli  of  a  group  of 


NEURONE   THEORY  35 

nerve  elements  are  conducted  along  the  long  polypoid  processes 
of  the  ganglion  cells  to  other  groups  of  like  elements  by  means 
of  simple  contiguity1  of  the  molecular  waves  of  stimulation, 
the  neurokymes.  We  know  that  powerful  increasing  of  stimuli 
(dynamogenesis),  and  just  as  powerful  inhibiting  of  stimuli, 
take  place  within  the  central  nervous  system;  but  we  do  not 
know  for  certain  which  elements  or  portions  of  elements  act 
inhibitorily,  and  which  increase  stimulation.  Under  certain 
circumstances  it  need  not  be  separate  elements  or  portions  of 
elements,  but  it  may  depend  on  whether  the  stimulus  waves 
accumulate  or  whether  they  neutralize  each  other  by  acting  in 
opposing  directions. 

One  can  thus  understand  how  the  relatively  equal  valued 
groups  of  elements  of  the  various  areas  of  the  cerebral  cortex, 
together  with  their  numberless  polyp  threads  of  the  white  sub- 
stance, form  a  group  of  complex  fibers — that  is,  of  axis  cyl- 
inders or  fibrilla  bundles — superordinated  to  the  other  cen- 
ters. The  concentrated  activities  of  this  group  complex  brings 
about  the  actual  reflection  of  our  superconsciousness.  The  stim- 
uli of  the  special  senses  are  projected  in  the  cerebral  cortex 
through  the  intermediation  of  the  lower  centers,  and  movement 
impulses  coordinate  by  the  system  of  the  pyramidal  cell  fibers2 
are  conducted  from  this  cortex,  as  are  the  inhibitions  of  reflex 
of  the  reflex  centers  in  the  medulla  oblongata,  in  the  spinal  cord, 
etc.  The  most  complicated  combinations  of  increase  of  stimula- 
tion, of  conduction,  and  of  inhibition  within  the  whole  central 
nervous  system  and  between  the  centers  and  periphery — both 
centrifugally  (motor)  and  centripetally — come  into  play  in 
every  mental  activity,  and  in  all  alternating  actions  of  per- 
ception and  of  our  dealings.  In  this  the  conduction  is  carried 
out  by  the  fibrilla  bundles  encompassed  by  medullary  sheaths, 
which  we  call  axis  cylinders  or  nerve  fibers,  and  which  are 
isolated  for  long  stretches.  A  further  isolation  takes  place 

JThe  contiguity  might  be  transformed  into  continuity  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, as  the  result  of  secondary  adhesions. 

2  By  this  I  mean  large  crossed  bundles  of  fibers  which  belong  to  the  neurons 
of  the  largest  ganglion  cells  of  the  cortex  (the  so-called  central  convolutions), 
and  which  connect  these  cells  directly  with  the  large  motor  ganglion  cells  of 
the  anterior  horns  of  the  spinal  cord,  etc.  The  last  named  form  the  muscle 
neurons. 


36  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

within  the  same  through  the  fibrilla,  which  can  conduct,  being 
completely  isolated  in  themselves  after  their  branching  or  "  un- 
binding "  (somewhat  like  the  individual  wires  of  a  transatlantic 
telegraph  cable). 

But  we  must  remember  that  many  element  systems  of  coordi- 
nated and  superordinated  centers  are  always  simultaneously 
active,  and  carry  over  to  one  another  their  waves  of  stimulation. 

We  must,  further,  not  forget  that  all  our  subjective  sensa- 
tions, that  is,  those  of  which  we  are  conscious — there  are  no 
objective  sensations:  this  would  be  a  contradictio  in  adjecto — 
take  place  in  the  cerebrum;  and  the  same  applies  to  all  the 
complex  collections  of  sensations  which  we  call  perceptions, 
no  matter  by  what  sort  of  stimulation  or  combination  of  stimuli 
they  are  effected.  All  activities  of  the  nervous  system  leave  a 
trace  behind  them  after  they  have  taken  place,  or  show  a 
changed  molecular  arrangement  of  the  whole  coordinated  com- 
plex, which  one  can  call  engram  or  impression  of  memory. 
.Many  parts  of  such  engrams  undoubtedly  oscillate  (or  lie)  in 
every  nerve  element.  These  traces  possess,  as  is  well  known, 
the  peculiarity  that  they  can  be  ecphorized  after  a  long  time  by 
means  of  an  associated  stimulus — i.e.,  that  they  can  be  trans- 
formed into  an  activity  which  is  almost  identical  with  the  first 
stimulus,  even  if  it  is  mostly  less  powerful.  We  call  the  sub- 
jective reflection  (in  the  consciousness)  conception. 

Hallucination  proves  that,  under  certain  circumstances,  the 
impressions  of  memory,  and  even  whole  complexes  of  the  same, 
can  be  ecphorized  again  in  such  a  manner,  by  pure  internal 
stimuli  of  the  brain,  that  they  are  in  all  respects  equivalent 
subjectively  to  a  perception — i.e.,  to  the  mentally  produced  pic- 
ture of  consciousness  of  a  complex  of  the  stimulation  of  the 
special  senses,  actually  projected  from  the  periphery.  It 
remains  an  open  question  whether  the  difference  between  per- 
ception and  internal  conception — e.g.,  in  a  dog — depends  only 
on  the  difference  of  the  intensity  of  the  corresponding  cerebral 
activity,  or  whether  it  is  explainable  by  assuming  that  in  hal- 
lucination the  centripetal  cell-fiber  columns  from  the  secondary 
center  to  the  corresponding  area  of  the  cortex — e.g.,  the  corpus 
geniculatum  externum,  the  visual  conduction  column  to  the 


NERVE   ENERGY  37 

cuneus  for  the  sense  of  sight,  etc. — are  drawn  into  sympathetic 
excitement.  The  last  explanation  appeals  to  me  as  the  most 
likely.  It  is  certain  that  a  blind  man,  with  total  destruction 
of  both  eyes  and  total  atrophy  of  both  optic  nerves  and  of  the 
optic  track,  can  hallucinate  still  after  many  years.  But  von 
Monakow  has  shown  that  the  cells  of  his  corpora  geniculata 
externa  must  be  preserved,  since  these  cells  do  not  atrophy  after 
the  enucleation  of  the  eye. 

However  this  may  be,  the  above-mentioned  facts  prove  that 
not  only  hallucination  or  deceptive  perception,  but  also  the  per- 
ception caused  by  real  stimulation  of  the  special  senses,  are  in 
themselves  cerebral  processes.  It  is  further  known  that  a  child 
at  first  only  receives  a  medley  of  impressions  through  its  senses, 
and  must  learn  to  observe,  so  that  the  perception  depends  on 
coordinating  modeling  of  impressions  in  the  cerebrum. 

I  considered  it  necessary  to  give  all  these  psychological  and 
anatomical  explanations,  because  I  have  noticed  that  the  want 
of  a  correct  psychological  and  anatomical  understanding  causes 
the  phenomena  of  hypnotism  to  appear  in  the  light  of  a  marvel 
not  only  to  the  laity,  but  also  to  medical  men.  The  marvel, 
if  there  is  one,  exists  in  the  problem  of  the  genesis  of  the  mind — 
i.e.,  of  the  genesis  of  the  brain — but  not  in  hypnotism,  if  one 
accepts  the  monistic  view. 

Presuming  that  an  activity  produced  in  the  brain  of  a  human 
being  through  spoken  words  takes  the  form  of  a  complex  of 
energy,1  such  activity  manifesting  itself  in  the  mirror  of  con- 
sciousness as  a  complex  imagination,  one  must  accept  that 
associated  hypoconceived  activities  cooperate  with  it.  It  is 
comparatively  immaterial  whether  the  given  conception  is  ascer- 
tainably  accompanied  by  the  reflection  of  the  superconscious- 
ness  or  not.  If  the  speaker  succeeds  in  mastering  the  course  of 
the  conception  in  others  by  means  of  intentional,  rapid,  and 
concentrated  action,  accomplished  by  tone,  words,  looks,  etc., 
he  becomes  increasingly  capable  of  associating  or  dissociating. 

1  Such  complexes  of  energy  consist  of  two  groups  of  factors:  the  inherited 
(inherited  mneme)  and  the  acquired  (acquired  engrams  of  the  brain  of  the 
individual).  Both  groups  of  factors  combine  in  a  manifold  manner  in  each  in- 
dividual case  (single  observation).  I  refer  the  reader  to  Semon's  book  on 
the  Mneme  (loc.  cit.),  and  to  my  "Sexual  Question"  (Rebman  Company, 
New  York) . 


38  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

The  brain  activity  of  the  influenced  person  will  thus  become 
more  plastic  and  more  adaptable  toward  him. 

He  succeeds  thus  in  producing  inhibitions  and  conductions, 
which  can  lead  to  hallucination,  to  the  cutting  off  of  the  various 
linkings  of  the  consciousness  from  one  another  (and  thus  to 
regular  amnesia),  to  the  stimulation  and  inhibition  of  the  vol- 
untary movements,  to  the  stimulation  and  inhibition  of  the 
vasomotor  functions  (influence  on  menstrual  and  other  bleed- 
ing), and  even  to  the  influencing  of  secretory  and  trophic  nerve 
functions  (sweating,  vesication),  according  to  the  degree  of  the 
attained  influence.  All  this  is  explainable  by  the  peculiarity 
of  the  nerve  activity,  and  especially  of  the  cerebral  activity. 
Miracles,  superstition,  bewitching,  the  belief  in  the  mysterious, 
and  the  belief  in  spirits  are  robbed  to  a  great  extent  of  their 
halo  by  this,  on  the  whole,  comparatively  simple  elucidation, 
and  are  explained  naturally. 

I  will  illustrate  the  insufficiency  of  our  pure  psychology  by 
one  example.  What  a  confusion  is  caused  by  the  words  "  see- 
ing "  and  "  willing  " !  Does  the  pigeon  whose  brain  has  been 
removed  see  or  not?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  several 
degrees  of  "  seeing." 

1.  The  elementary  amoeboid  "  sight "  of  the  retinal  elements, 
which  is  closely  related  to  the  photodermic  sensations   (light 
appreciation  of  the  skin)   of  the  lower  animals.     This  sight 
cannot  be  considered  as  optic,  since  an  element  cannot  perceive 
an  optical  image. 

2.  The  sight  of  the  anterior  pair  of  the  corpora  quadrigemina 
and  of  the  external  geniculate  body  (the  secondary  optic  cen- 
ters), which  receive  a  collected  coordinate  transmission  of  the 
collected  retinal  impression  through  the  optic  nerve.   This  is  the 
sight  of  the  brainless  pigeon.    This  lower  form  of  sight  is  never 
conceived  by  us  human  beings.     It  may  be  regarded  as  being 
optical,  but  is  practically  analogous  to  the  sight  of  the  insects 
which  do  not  possess  a  cerebrum — e.g.,  ants — and  is  scarcely 
capable  of  using  optic  impressions  of  memory  in  association.1 

3.  The  sight  of  the   so-called  visual  sphere  of  the  cortex 
(cuneus),  which,  in  spite  of  the  physiologist  Golz,  do  exist, 
1  Forel,  "  The  Psychical  Capabilities  of  Ants  '  (Miinchen :  E.  Rheinhardt,  1901). 


SEEING  39 

since  the  fiber  system  from  the  subcortical  centers  ends  in  this 
place  (Monakow).  This  corresponds  to  our  usual  super-  and 
hypo-conscious  human  sight.  The  visual  sphere  receives  the 
retinal  impression  second-hand,  if  one  may  use  this  term,  and 
combined  with  many  complicated  associations. 

4.  There  is  still  one  other  sight,  a  mental  vision — viz.,  the 
repercussion  of  these  optical  stimuli  of  the  visual  sphere  in 
other  associated  areas  of  the  cortex  of  the  cerebrum.  There 
are  people  who  are  able  to  see  sounds  colored  (Nussbaumer, 
Bleuler,  and  Lehmann),  inasmuch  as  they  always  associate  cer- 
tain colors  (mostly  the  same)  with  certain  sounds  or  vowels. 

The  same  applies  to  the  centrifugal  or  voluntary  activity, 
from  the  conceived  wish,  through  resolve  and  action,  to  impulse 
and  reflex  twitching.  This  is  nothing  else  than  the  completed 
result  of  feelings  and  of  the  intellect  elements  associated  with 
them,  however  much  movement  may  act  furtheringly  on  impres- 
sions and  feelings.  The  study  of  the  disturbances  of  speech 
demonstrates  plainly  that  there  is  no  boundary  between 
"  somatically  "  and  "  psychically  "  produced  motor  complexes 
of  innervation  and  disturbances  of  the  same. 

If  we  consider  all  these  facts  with  that  which  has  been  stated 
in  the  early  pages,  we  shall  no  longer  be  astonished  so  very 
much  by  the  seeming  contradictions  and  mysteries  of  hypno- 
tism. We  shall  be  able  more  readily  to  understand  that  a 
hypnotized  person  sees,  and  yet  does  not  see;  believes,  and  yet 
frequently  apparently  simulates  with  a  certain  complaisance. 
His  consciousness  can  believe,  and,  for  example,  in  reply  to  a 
negative  hallucination,  not  see  and  not  hear;  while  outside  the 
reflection  of  consciousness,  which  has  been  dimly  blotted  out 
like  a  breath  of  air,  the  rest  of  his  brain  activity  (his  hypo- 
consciousness,  as  we  have  already  called  it)  sees  clearly,  hears 
clearly,  and  gets  out  of  the  way  of  the  obstruction.  But  in 
another  case  a  concentrated  powerful  suggestion  action  may 
grasp  much  more  profoundly  into  the  hypoconceived  brain 
activity,  and  may  even,  having  been  conducted  strongly  along 
the  peripheral  nerves,  react  on  these,  as  we  can  see  in  the  in- 
hibition and  production  of  menstruation,  for  example,  or  in 
the  production  of  diarrhoea  and  blisters  on  the  epidermis. 


CHAPTER    III 

GENERAL,   REMARKS   ON   HYPNOTISM 

FACTS. — The  chief  fact  of  hypnotism  consists  in  the  alterect 
mental  condition  (or  condition  of  the  brain  activity,  considered 
from  the  physiological  point  of  view)  of  a  human  being.  One 
can  call  it  "  hypnosis,"  or  the  condition  of  suggestibility,  to 
distinguish  this  condition  from  ordinary  sleep,  with  which  it 
has  a  marked  relationship. 

A  second  series  of  facts  consists  of  the  manner  in  which  this 
condition  is  produced  and  removed.  But  in  this  respect  erro- 
neous interpretations  have  given  rise  to  the  most  incorrect  con- 
ceptions. Hypnosis  can  apparently  be  produced  in  three 
different  ways:  (1)  Through  the  psychical  influence  of  one 
person  on  another  by  means  of  placing  ideas  before  the  latter, 
which  the  former  induces  the  latter  to  accept.  This  kind  of 
hypnotizing  has  been  termed  "  suggestion  "  (dictation — the 
Nancy  school).  (2)  Through  the  direct  action  of  living  or 
lifeless  objects  or  of  a  mysterious  agent  on  the  nervous  system. 
In  this  case,  tiring  of  one  sense,  which  is  concentrated  for  a 
long  time  on  one  point,  is  said  to  play  an  important  part.  In 
this  class  one  speaks  of  the  specific  action  of  the  magnet,  of 
the  human  hand,  of  medicaments  enclosed  in  bottles,  and  the 
like.  (3)  Through  the  reaction  of  the  mind  on  itself  (auto- 
hypnotism).  I  think  that  I  am  justified  in  stating,  in  complete 
agreement  with  Bernheim,  that,  in  the  essence  of  things,  there 
is  only  one  scientifically  assured  method  of  inducing  hypnosis — 
viz.,  the  induction  of  this  condition  by  suggestion,  be  it  by 
means  of  the  dictation  of  others  or  by  autosuggestion.1  The 

1The  terms  "autosuggestion"  and  "posthypnotic"  have  been  attacked 
as  being  barbaric,  since  they  are  derived  half  from  Latin  and  half  from  Greek 
roots.  This  view  is  justified  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  purist.  Still,  we 
should  be  thankful  that  our  terminology  is  not  encumbered  by  words  like 
"authypoboly"  or  "  ipsisuggestion  "  and  "  ephypnotic,"  for  euphonism  and 
general  comprehensibility  must  also  be  taken  into  account. 

40 


FACTS — THEORIES  41 

possibility  of  unconscious  suggestion  or  autosuggestion  is  not 
excluded  with  scientific  certainty  in  the  presumptive  or  appa- 
rently different  forms  of  production  of  hypnosis,  and  seems  even 
to  be  almost  certainly  present  on  closer  investigation. 

A  third  series  of  facts  is  that  of  the  capabilities  of  the  hypno- 
tized. It  is  certain  that  in  the  condition  of  hypnotism  induced 
by  suggestion  the  most  extensive  reactions  on  nearly  all  the 
functions  of  the  nervous  system  (a  few  spinal  reflexes  and  func- 
tions of  ganglia  excluded)  are  possible.  These  include  such 
bodily  exercises  as  digestion,  defsecation,  menstruation,  pulsa- 
tion, reddening  of  the  skin,  etc.,  the  independence  of  the  cere- 
brum of  which  is  generally  forgotten  or  undervalued. 

That  the  mental  activity  of  the  hypnotized  is  more  or  less 
dependent  on  the  influencing  of  the  hypnotist,  according  to  the 
higher  degrees  of  the  influence,  is  also  undoubted.  Lastly,  and 
of  paramount  importance,  there  is  the  indisputable  fact  that  the 
influence  exercised  in  hypnosis  may  extend  itself  posthypnoti- 
cally  into  the  normal  condition  of  the  mind,  in  all  regions  of 
the  nervous  system  and  of  the  mind;  it  may  include  the  in- 
fluence of  the  hypnotist  over  the  hypnotized,  and  can  even  be 
continued  for  a  long  time. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  alleged  immaterial  facts,  such  as 
second  sight  or  telepathy,  the  so-called  direct  thought-reading, 
and  the  like,  are  doubtful,  and,  at  all  events,  are  scientifically 
neither  sufficiently  corroborated  nor  explained.  It  appears  that 
a  strictly  scientific  control,  which  excludes  all  possible  uncon- 
scious suggestion,  was  mostly  absent  in  experiments  of  this 
kind,  with  those  extremely  rare  cases  of  somnambulism  which 
are  supposed  to  have  been  successful.  Where  such  a  control 
was  present,  the  experiment  appears  to  have  ended  in  a  perfect 
fiasco  as  a  rule.  Nevertheless,  unprejudiced  science  requires 
that  this  question  should  be  carefully  investigated,  since  a 
number  of  trustworthy  persons,  who  are  wanting  in  discern- 
ment, affirm  especially  that  certain  cases  of  presentiments  have 
come  true. 

THEORIES  AND  DEFINITIONS. — The  definitions  which  one 
applies  to  hypnotism  depend  on  those  theoretical  views  held  on 
this  subject.  If  we  throw  overboard  as  far  as  possible  the  bal- 


42  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

last  of  undigested  or  superstitious  nonsense  which  is  claimed 
for  the  phenomena  belonging  to  this  question,  and  which  is  scat- 
tered broadcast  in  the  widespread  trashy  literature  on  the  so- 
called  occultism,  only  three  theories  or  explanations,  differing 
in  principle,  of  the  facts  briefly  recited  above  remain. 

1.  An  external  invisible  agent  penetrates  into  the  body,  and 
especially  into  the  nervous  system,  influences  the  organism,  and 
introduces  into  the  latter  something  which  is  foreign  to  it;  it 
may  even  be  the  knowledge  of  lifeless  nature  or  of  other  living 
beings.1  One  formerly  regarded  this  agent  as  a  fluid,  and  the 
laity  still  speak  of  it  as  such ;  spiritualists  call  it  an  immaterial 
spirit,  and  in  the  language  of  modern  times  it  would  be  termed 
a  still  unknown  physical  force.  Or  the  thoughts  and  mental 
processes  of  one  person  reach  by  means  of  such  an  agent  the 
knowledge  of  the  mind  of  another  person,  without  the  inter- 
mediation of  the  speech  of  sound,  of  writing,  or  of  signs  of  the 
first  person,  or  by  means  of  the  organs  of  sense  of  the  second. 
This  is  Mesmer's  theory.  Mesmer  called  the  supposed  agent 
magnetism,  and  especially  "  animal  magnetism,"  when  it  ap- 
peared to  be  derived  from  the  human  or  animal  organism  (the 
more  so  when  it  seemed  to  be  derived  from  the  magnetizer). 
This  theory  is  supported  still  in  certain  circles  by  enthusiastic 
and  even  fanatic  adherents,  and  is  based  on  those  phenomena 
referred  to  under  (2),  and  those  quoted  as  doubtful,  alleged 
immaterial  facts.  If  it  were  true,  it  would  without  doubt  seri- 
ously influence  our  scientific  knowledge,  for  the  consistent 
ignoring  on  the  part  of  science  up  to  the  present  time  of  this 
unknown  something,  of  this  unknown  force,  would  necessarily 
have  caused  an  error  in  our  results  hitherto,  in  the  same  way  as 
an  important  factor,  if  forgotten,  would  have  done.  The  law 
of  energy  could  not  hold  good,  for  such  influences  would  of 
necessity  always  lead  to  error.  But  as  Science,  as  a  result  of  her 
extensive  practical  results,  offers  daily  increasing  proof  of 

1  It  is  not  absolutely  uninteresting  to  compare  these  views  with  those  of 
the  physiologist  Albrecht  Bethe,  who  assumes  the  intervention  of  "unknown 
powers"  in  the  method  in  which  insects  find  their  way  about,  instead  of  em- 
ploying the  conclusion  of  analogy,  which  requires  less  seeking,  and  accepting 
that  insects  use  their  organs  of  sense,  as  well  as  their  memory  and  the  associ- 
ation of  their  engrams,  simply  as  we  do.  (Forel,  "The  Psychical  Capabilities 
of  Ants,"  loc.  tit.) 


MESMER'S  THEORY  43 

her  intrinsic  truth,  one  has  reason  to  distrust  Mesmer's  theory, 
and  to  require  of  it  unambiguous,  unimpeachable  proofs.  Let 
us  consider  briefly  how  matters  lie. 

Mesmer  and  his  school  have  been  so  completely  contradicted 
by  Braid  and  Liebeault  as  far  as  the  facts  referred  to  above  as 
indisputable  are  concerned  (see  later)  that  it  were  vain  to 
waste  more  time  on  this  subject.  The  fluid  theory  takes  um- 
brage behind  the  supposed  facts  even  at  the  present  time,  which 
are  guarded  by  the  spiritualists,  and  which,  according  to  the 
circles  in  which  they  are  produced,  are  so  intimately  inter- 
mingled with  blind  fanaticism,  with  mental  disturbances  (hal- 
lucinations), with  misconceived  suggestions,  with  trickery  and 
with  superstition,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  subject  them  to 
a  scientific  investigation  at  present.  The  spirits  and  the  fourth 
dimension  of  the  spiritualists  are  the  conceptions  which  would 
correspond  to  the  unknown  agent.  The  so-called  "  materializa- 
tion of  spirits,"  which  probably  depends  partly  on  hallucina- 
tions of  feeling  and  partly  on  deceit,  indicates  the  consummation 
of  the  nonsense  of  dualistic  conceptions.  In  order  to  demon- 
strate the  reality  of  an  immaterial,  energyless  spirit,  one  wishes 
to  render  it  material,  and  containing  energy. 

As  far  as  the  "  photographs  "  of  "  spirits  "  are  concerned, 
there  is  a  very  simple  photographic  method  of  producing  such 
pictures.  I  have  seen  an  excellent  spirit  photograph  which  was 
taken  by  an  honest  photographer  without  a  "  spirit " !  The 
sort  of  trick  which  is  similar  to  those  employed  by  conjurers 
plays  a  part  here  which  must  not  be  undervalued. 

A  series  of  apparently  supernatural  phenomena  which  are 
supposed  to  speak  in  favor  of  Mesmer's  or  allied  theories  are, 
as  has  already  been  stated,  constantly  being  brought  forward  by 
upright,  trustworthy  people.  I  can  mention  the  so-called 
thought-reading,  improperly  called  "  mental  suggestion  " ;  clair- 
voyance ;  seeing  or  guessing  of  what  is  taking  place  at  a  distance ; 
the  so-called  presentiments  and  "  fortune-telling,"  inter  alia. 
These  supposed  phenomena  are  collectively  styled  "  telepathy." 

"  Phantasms  of  the  Living  >J1  is  an  extraordinary  book  from 

^'Phantasms  of  the  Living,"  by  Gurney  (Myers  and  Podmore,  two  vols. 
in  8vo.;  Trubner,  London,  1877). 


44  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

the  above-mentioned  point  of  view.  In  it  no  less  than  six  hun- 
dred observations  on  visions,  dreams,  presentiments,  and  the 
like,  which  were  fulfilled,  are  recorded.  Exact  inquiries  are 
said  to  have  been  made  into  the  reliability  of  the  sources  of  the 
accounts,  and  only  clear  accounts  of  trustworthy  persons  were 
supposed  to  have  been  accepted.  A  review  of  this  book  was 
published  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  of  May  1,  1888. 
Everyone  can  meet  with  several  similar  observations  among 
his  own  friends,  and,  without  doubt,  among  trustworthy  per- 
sons.1 One  must  further  not  fail  to  mention  in  this  place  that 
in  the  history  of  the  world  a  considerable  amount  of  telepathy 
is  recorded.  One  meets  with  the  belief  in  the  so-called  sympa- 
thetic influences  and  in  the  fulfillment  of  presentiments  up  to 
the  present  time  and  in  spite  of  all  enlightenment,  even  in  pro- 
fessed atheists. 

The  experiments  of  Ch.  Kichet  are  also  interesting.  He 
attempts  to  prove  the  influence  of  the  thinking  of  one  indi- 
vidual on  the  thinking  of  another  in  a  certain  direction  with- 
out external  appearances  which  could  be  sensorily  perceived.  It 
appears  to  me,  however,  that  the  proofs  are  extremely  imperfect, 
and  the  probability  calculation  employed  very  unconvincing. 
The  later  investigations  of  von  Schrenk-Notzing,  Flournoy, 
and  others,  have  also  failed  to  arrive  at  definite  conclusions. 

It  is  exceedingly  difficult  in  all  these  experiments,  apart  from 
accident  and  trickery,  to  exclude  with  certainty  self-deception 
on  the  part  of  the  hypnotized — that  is,  of  the  subject — and  even 
on  the  part  of  the  hypnotizer,  especially  of  every  unconscious 
suggestion  and  autosuggestion.  It  is  therefore  necessary  that 
great  caution  should  be  exercised  in  accepting  these  forms  of 
results. 

Since  the  third  edition  of  this  book  there  has  been  nothing 
new  of  importance  relative  to  the  subject  of  telepathy  to  report. 
At  all  events,  telepathy  has  not  been  able  to  bring  forward  a 
new  elucidation,  while  the  doctrine  of  suggestion  has  been  freely 
confirmed  during  the  same  period  of  time.  All  the  stories  of 
spiritualists  and  of  superficial  individuals  have  not  been  able 
to  alter  anything  belonging  to  these  facts.  Still,  I  would  wish 
1  See  also  Lie"beault,  "  Le  Sommeil  Provoque","  1889,  p.  295. 


TELEPATHIC  READING  45 

to  add  the  following:  Professor  Th.  Flournoy  (Geneva)  re- 
counted, in  some  lectures  which  he  delivered  in  Lausanne,  in 
1900,  that  Pouchet  once  offered  one  thousand  francs  to  any 
person  who  could  read  a  sentence  which  he  had  placed  in  a 
double  envelope,  to  which  a  seal  had  been  attached.  Professor 
Flournoy  did  not  fully  approve  of  the  method  of  carrying  out 
this  experiment  of  Pouchet's,  but  still  admitted  the  possibility 
that  telepathic  reading  might  succeed. 

My  cousin,  Professor  F.  A.  Forel,  of  Merges,  then  suggested 
that  similar  conditions  should  be  imposed,  and  that  the  follow- 
ing might  be  found  satisfactory: 

He  gave  Professor  Flournoy  a  carefully  closed  and  sealed 
casket,  and  promised  the  sum  of  one  thousand  francs  to  any 
person  who  could,  during  the  course  of  one  year  read  a  motto 
which  was  enclosed  in  the  box. 

Replies  came  in  so  quickly  that  Professor  Flournoy1  became 
alarmed  at  the  prospects  if  he  continued  to  take  charge  of  the 
box,  ended  the  experiment  after  a  fortnight,  and  sent  the  casket 
back  to  Professor  Forel. 

Not  a  single  reply  sent  in  bore  the  slightest  resemblance  to 
the  enclosed  sentence.  The  latter  ran  as  follows :  Et  il  I'enduisit 
de  bitume,  en  dedans  et  en  dehors. 

It  is  a  pity  that  my  cousin's  conditions  were  not  allowed  a 
further  chance.  It  would  have  been  worth  while  to  have 
awaited  the  results  of  the  whole  year.  On  a  previous  occasion 
the  French  Academy  of  Mesmerism  offered  similar  conditions. 
The  failure  of  the  telepaths  wras  a  complete  one.  In  future  it 
may  be  necessary  to  guard  against  the  use  of  Roentgen  rays  and 
radium,  etc.,  when  carrying  out  this  form  of  experiment. 

1  Professor  Flournoy's  reaction,  which  appeared  in  the  newspapers,  had 
a  very  curious  character.  He  promised  to  give  1,000  francs  to  charity  if  the 
Vinet  School  in  Lausanne  were  struck  by  a  ball  of  fire  (literally,  "a  ball- 
shaped  lightning")  during  the  course  of  the  year.  The  comparison  of  the 
Professor  of  Philosophy  falls  suspiciously  flat.  Even  allowing  that  a  ball 
of  fire  be  just  as  rare  as  the  presumed  telepathic  reading,  although  it  can  be 
scientifically  proved  to  occur,  one  was  not  dealing  with  an  experiment  for 
which  one  could  invite  all  telepathists  of  the  world  publically  to  compete,  and 
for  which  one  could  allow  one  year's  time!  No  invitation  was  directed  to  the 
ball  of  fire  to  let  itself  loose  on  the  Ecole  Vinet  in  Lausanne!  For  this  reason 
the  definite  negative  result  of  the  condition  stipulated  by  Professor  F.  A. 
Forel  would  have  carried  with  it  quite  a  different  significance  scientifically 
to  the  fact  that  the  Vinet  School  was  not  struck  by  a  ball  of  fire. 


46  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

2.  The  theory  first  formulated  by  Braid  ("  Neurhypnology," 
1843),  and  first  worked  out  in  its  full  importance  and  practical 
application  by  Liebeault  of  Nancy  ("  Du  Somneil  et  des  Etats 
Analogues,"  1866),  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  first-men- 
tioned theory.  This  is  the  conception  of  suggestion  (dictation). 
It  can  be  formulated  somewhat  in  the  following  manner : 

The  production  of  the  various  phenomena  of  hypnosis  by 
means  of  the  calling  forth  of  suitable  impressions,  and  espe- 
cially of  impressions  of  the  fancy.  It  may  be  mentioned  in  this 
place  that  the  object  is  most  easily  and  most  certainly  gained 
when  the  hypnotist  declares  definitely  by  means  of  speech  that 
the  condition  which  he  wishes  to  induce  will  appear  at  the  time 
while  he  is  speaking,  or  at  a  given  time,  earlier  or  later  (verbal 
suggestion  or  persuasion).  When  a  person  persuades  himself 
of  something,  one  speaks  of  autosuggestion  (Bernheim).  Braid 
did  not  realize  the  importance  of  suggestion,  but  attached  in- 
stead an  importance  which  does  not  belong  to  it  to  the  con- 
tinuous stimulation  of  the  senses  (fixation,  etc.).  He  placed 
Mesmer's  animal  magnetism  side  by  side  with  hypnotism,  be- 
lieved in  the  direct  action  on  the  peripheral  nervous  system,  and 
stood  the  same  ground  as  the  so-called  somatic  school  (Charcot, 
etc.).  One  is  accustomed  to  produce  a  partial  or  complete  dis- 
sociation by  means  of  suggestion,  and  as  the  dissociation  condi- 
tion of  the  brain  considerably  increases  the  suggestibility  of 
the  brain  (i.e.,  the  susceptibility  toward  influencing  by  means 
of  suggestion),  one  gains  the  desired  power  at  once.  In  the 
same  way  sleep  is  a  dissociation  condition  of  the  brain,  and  actu- 
ally a  general  one.  For  the  purposes  of  obtaining  rest  of  the 
neurons,  suggestive  dissociation  is,  as  it  were,  a  more  or  less 
divided  up  or  localized  sleep.  But  suggestion  is  not  only  pro- 
duced by  means  of  speech  and  by  persuasion :  it  can  be  induced 
by  everything  which  can  call  forth  impressions,  and,  above  all, 
which  can  cause  strong  pictures  in  the  imagination.  Liebeault 
is  right  when  he  writes:1 

"  La  disposition  a  tomber  dans  ces  etats  est  proportionnelle 
a  la  faculte  de  representation  mentale  de  chacun.  L'on  peut 
etre  sur  que  rhomme  qui,  en  reportant  son  attention  sur  une 

lLoc.  at.,  p.  347. 


SUGGESTION  47 

idee  image,  celle  d'une  perception  tactile,  par  example,  ne  tarde 
pas  a  la  percevoir  comme  si  elle  etait  reelle,  que  cet  homme  est 
capable  de  dormir  profondement "  (i.e.,  is  able  to  be  deeply 
hypnotized). 

But  this  is  not  all.  A  suggestion  can  take  place  uncon- 
sciously— that  is,  hypoconsciously — or  the  corresponding  con- 
ception may  appear  so  feebly  or  for  so  short  a  time  in  the  mirror 
of  the  superconsciousness  that  it  disappears  immediately  and 
for  ever  from  the  latter,  so  that  the  memory  cannot  recall  it 
again;  and  yet  this  suggestion  may  act  powerfully.  As  the 
result  of  the  complete  amnesia,  one  cannot  even  show  that  the 
conception  in  question  was  ever  recognized  in  such  cases.  But 
it  was  nevertheless  certainly  present;  closer  inspection  proves 
this.  The  point  on  which  the  whole  question  of  the  understand- 
ing of  a  great  number  of  self-deceptions  and  alleged  Mesmer's 
actions  turn  lies  here.  For  example,  one  hypnotizes  a  peasant 
girl,  who  has  not  the  faintest  idea  of  physics  and  of  prisms,  for 
the  first  time,  and  places  a  prism  in  front  of  her  eyes,  after 
having  suggested  to  her  that  she  is  to  look  at  an  imaginary 
candle,  suspended  in  space.  On  asking  her  what  she  sees,  she 
will  reply,  "  Two  candles."  This  depends  on  an  unconceived 
suggestion,  as  Bernheim  has  been  able  to  prove.  The  girl  saw 
the  real  objects  present  in  the  room  through  the  prism  double, 
and,  having  been  unconsciously  influenced,  doubled  the  sug- 
gested candle.  If  the  experiment  is  carried  out  in  a  completely 
darkened  room  on  a  person  who  has  never  before  been  hypno- 
tized, and  who  has  no  theoretical  knowledge  of  these  things, 
the  suggested  picture  will  never  be  doubled  by  a  prism  (Bern- 
heim). One  can  hardly  assume  that  the  girl  became  conscious 
of  the  conditions  during  the  hypnosis,  and,  because  she  recog- 
nized all  other  objects  as  double,  believed  that  she  saw  the 
candle  double  also.  The  "  doubling  "  took  place  instinctively, 
automatically,  below  the  level  of  the  superconsciousness.  She 
did  not  fix  the  other  objects,  but  only  the  fictitious  candle. 
Nevertheless,  this  doubling  was  recognized  by  her  (probably 
hypoconsciously)  and  made  use  of.  However,  the  mechanism 
of  suggestion' always  remains  unconceived  to  the  superconscious- 
ness; or,  in  other  words,  the  manner,  in  which  the  heard  and 


48  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

understood  words  of  the  hypnotist  or  in  which  the  perception 
and  further  association  of  these  create  the  actual  result,  remains 
unconceived. 

Liebeault's  suggestion  theory  of  hypnosis  has  presented  such 
striking  proofs  of  its  correctness,  that  it  must  be  accepted  as 
having  established  itself  completely  by  now.  This  has  been 
achieved  not  only  by  the  practical  results,  chiefly  in  medical 
therapy,  but  also  in  education  and  in  many  other  branches. 
The  methods  corresponding  to  other  theories  have  been  able  to 
produce  a  part  of  the  appearances  of  hypnosis  only  in  hysterical 
or  nervous  persons,  but  very  exceptionally  also  in  healthy  per- 
sons, with  more  or  less  difficulty.  These  theories  were  forced 
to  resort  to  most  wonderful  nebulous  explanations,  because  they 
were  always  face  to  face  with  puzzles  and  contradictions. 
Against  this,  suggestion  succeeds  easily  with  almost  every 
healthy  person,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  facts  referred  to 
above  as  being  doubtful,  it  explains  everything  naturally  from 
a  single  point  of  view.  Besides,  suggestion  is  in  complete  con- 
cord with  a  scientific  psychophysiology,  and  throws  a  powerful 
light  on  the  functions  of  our  brains. 

The  number  of  mentally  healthy  persons  hypnotized  in 
Nancy  by  Liebeault  *  and  Bernheim  has  reached  many  thou- 
sands. Only  ninety-seven  out  of  three  thousand  one  hundred 
and  forty-eight  persons  subjected  by  Dr.  Wetterstrand,  of  Stock- 
holm, to  the  influence  of  suggestion  during  the  period  1887- 
1890  remained  uninfluenced.  Dr.  van  Renterghem  and  Dr.  van 
Eeden,  of  Amsterdam,  had  up  to  1895  successfully  hypnotized 
one  thousand  and  thirty-one  out  of  one  thousand  and  eighty- 
nine  persons  by  suggestion.  Dr.  Velander,  in  Joenkoeping, 
had  only  twenty  refractory  persons  among  one  thousand  hypno- 
tized subjects.  Dr.  von  Schrenck  only  had  twenty-nine  failures 
with  two  hundred  and  forty  successes,  and  Dr.  Tuckey  had 
thirty  failures  with  two  hundred  and  twenty  successes,  and  so 
on.  (The  statistical  accounts  are  derived  from  Dr.  von 
Schrenck-Notzing,  Miinchen,  1893.)  In  recent  years  I  myself 
have  been  able  to  influence,  more  or  less,  about  ninety-six  per 

1  Liebeault  ("The'rapeutique  Suggestive,"  1891)  gives  the  number  of  the 
various  people  hypnotized  by  him  as  over  7,500.  Liebeault  died,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-one  years,  on  February  17,  1904. 


NANCY  SCHOOL  OF  HYPNOTISM  49 

cent,  of  all  cases.  I  used  to  give  an  out-patient  course  on  sug- 
gestive therapy  (one  and  a  half  hours  every  week)  during  each 
summer  session  in  Zurich.  During  these  courses  about  fifty 
to  seventy  patients  were  hypnotized  therapeutically  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  students  each  time,  and  I  can  truthfully  say  that 
within  the  last  few  years  scarcely  as  many  as  from  one  to  three 
of  these  cases  remained  quite  uninfluenced  at  any  one  sitting. 
Dr.  Ringier,  who  learned  the  suggestion  method  under  me  in 
1887,  found  that  among  two  hundred  and  ten  patients  treated 
by  him  by  suggestion  there  were  only  twelve  who  were  not  in- 
fluenced.1 Oscar  Vogt,  who  exceeded  all  others  in  the  more 
minute  psychical  analysis,  succeeded  in  nearly  cent,  per  cent, 
of  his  attempts  to  influence  his  patients  by  suggestion,  and  was 
especially  successful  in  producing  a  large  number  of  somnam- 
bulists. Among  all  these  hypnotized  persons,  there  was  a  large 
number  of  complete  somnambulists  with  posthypnotic  phe- 
nomena, etc.2 

What  a  curious  figure  the  handful  of  hysterics  of  the  Sal- 
petriere  in  Paris  cut  in  comparison  with  the  numbers  quoted 
above !  They  were  not  more  than  a  dozen  all  told.  For  many 
years  always  the  same  persons  were  used  to  demonstrate  "  hyp- 
notism "  on  the  basis  of  Charcot's  theory,  and  they  had 
obviously  drifted  into  a  condition  of  complete  automatism  of 
unrecognized  suggestion  or  of  hysterical  autosuggestion. 

If  one  considers  what  has  been  said,  one  is  inclined  to  accept 
that  the  earlier  hazy  conception  of  hypnotism  must  become 
identified  in  the  conception  of  suggestion.  The  explanation  of 
the  greatest  portion,  if  not  of  the  whole,  of  the  phenomena 
under  consideration  is  to  be  found  herein. 

3.  The  so-called  "  somatic "  theories  of  hypnotism  can  be 
collectively  considered  as  those  theories  which  lie,  as  it  were, 

1  Ringier,  "Results  of  Therapeutic  Hypnotism  in  Country  Practice,"  1891. 

2  Many  medical  men  practising  hypnotism  have  not  collected  their  cases 
statistically.     Still,  we  dare  say  that  everyone  who  has  grasped  the  Nancy 
method  (Liebeault,  Bernheim,  Beaunis,  Li6geois)  and   has  to  some  extent 
practised  it,  is  capable  of  influencing  more  or  less  strongly  between  90  and  96 
per  cent,  of  the  persons  whom  he  tries  to  hypnotize,  the  insane  excepted.     The 
number  of  practitioners  who  have  busied  themselves  with  the  suggestion  treat- 
ment, or  with  the  scientific  investigation  of  the  question  according  to  the 
Nancy  method,  has  greatly  increased  since  the  first  edition  of  this  book  ap- 
peared, and  I  know  that  all  of  these  gentlemen  will  bear  me  out  in  what  I 
have  stated. 


50  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

midway  between  the  other  two  already  dealt  with.  It  is  true 
that  no  "  fluid,"  no  "  spirits,"  are  conjured  forth ;  but  an 
attempt  was  made  to  trace  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  phenomena 
of  hypnosis  to  known  elementary  forces,  without  the  intermedi- 
ation of  psychical  activity.  The  influence  of  peripheral  stimuli 
from  without  on  the  nerve  endings  is  accredited  with  a  princi- 
pal part,  and  thus  again  the  necessity  of  an  outer  agent  partly 
appears  in  the  foreground. 

It  was  the  Charcot  school  or  that  of  the  Salpetriere  in  Paris 
before  all  others  which  believed  in  a  direct  hypnogenous  in- 
fluence of  the  metals  and  of  the  magnet  on  the  nervous  system 
(without  the  intermediation  of  conceptions),  which  believed  in 
a  conveyance  (carrying  over  of  a  paralysis,  catalepsy,  or  of 
hemiansesthesia,  etc.,  from  one  side  of  the  body  to  the  other  by 
means  of  the  magnetic  influence),  in  a  direct  stimulation  of  the 
localized  motor  cortical  centers  by  stroking  the  scalp,  etc.  This 
school  believed  that  typical  different  stages  and  kinds  of  hypno- 
sis can  be  produced  by  means  of  different  peripheral  mechanical 
stimulations.  These  stimulations  include  (1)  fixation  of  the 
vision,  (2)  raising  of  the  lids,  and  (3)  stroking  of  the  fore- 
head. The  forms  of  hypnosis  corresponding  to  these  would  be 
lethargy,  catalepsy,  and  somnambulism,  and  these  would  be 
associated  with  specific  intrinsic  reactions  of  the  muscles  and 
of  sensation — e.g.,  the  so-called  hyperexcitabilite  neuromuscu- 
laire.  It  is  important  to  emphasize  that  the  Charcot  school  be- 
lieved that  the  hypnotized  in  the  condition  of  lethargy  were 
completely  unconscious,  and  that  they  could  not  be  influenced 
by  suggestions,  which  one  imparts  to  them  through  the  organs 
of  sense  by  means  of  representations.  This  school  further  be- 
lieved that  the  hysterical  alone  were  capable  of  being  hypno- 
tized, and  included  hypnosis  among  the  neuroses. 

It  was  Bernheim  who  demonstrated  most  strikingly  what  a 
confusion  of  ideas  had  arisen  from  this  theory.  All  facts  which 
have  been  demonstrated  year  after  year  on  the  few  prepared 
hysterics  in  the  Salpetriere  can  be  easily  explained  by  long 
practised  suggestions,  which  had  become  in  part  unconceived 
and  automatic,  since,  for  example,  the  alleged  lethargist  hears 
and  employs  psychically  to  a  great  extent  all  that  which  is  said 


SOMATIC  THEORY  51 

and  done  "in  his  presence.  Braid's  fixing  of  a  shining  object,  to 
which  so  much  importance  has  been  attached  in  Paris  and  in 
Germany  does  not  produce  hypnosis  by  itself.  When  anyone  is 
hypnotized  by  this  inefficient  method,  the  result  is  achieved  by 
the  conception  that  this  procedure  must  send  him  to  sleep,  and 
not  by  the  procedure  itself.  The  latter  generally  only  produced 
a  nervous  excitement,  and  occasionally  also  hysterical  attacks 
in  the  hysterical.  At  most,  in  a  few  cases,  tiring  and  the  fall- 
ing of  the  lids  might  act  unconceivedly  as  a  suggestion,  just  as 
in  very  susceptible  persons  any  means  of  producing  hypnosis 
leads  to  the  desired  result. 

It  was  formerly  a  common  practice  to  awaken  the  hypnotized 
by  blowing  in  the  face.  I  have  not  employed  this  method  for 
a  long  time,  and,  on  the  contrary,  have  combined  blowing  with 
the  suggestion  that  headache  should  disappear  and  the  like.  In 
this  way,  I  can  blow  in  the  faces  of  my  hypnotized  patients  as 
much  as  I  please,  but  not  one  will  be  awakened  thereby.  This 
is  an  argument  against  the  alleged  action  of  such  mechanical 
stimuli  put  forward  by  the  "  somatic  "  school,  which  regards 
blowing  as  the  specific  awakening  stimulus. 

Liebeault  himself  reported  on  forty-five  cases  in  which  he 
claims  to  have  obtained  extraordinary  good  results  by  laying 
both  his  hands  on  the  affected  part  in  young  children.1  Thirty- 
two  of  the  patients  were  children  under  three  years  of  age,  and 
Liebeault  considered  that  he  could  exclude  suggestion  at  this 
age.  However,  Liebeault  has  lately  been  forced  to  admit  that 
he  misinterpreted  the  facts  at  the  time.2  Following  the 
advice  of  Bernheim,  he  substituted  for  the  hands  first  "  mag- 
netized "  water,  and  later  not  magnetized  water,  telling  the 
parents  and  nurses  of  the  children  that  the  water  was  mag- 
netized, and  promising  a  cure  definitely.  He  achieved  equally 
good  results  in  this  way.  The  results  can  only  be  explained  by 
accepting  that  the  persons  around  the  children  were  uncon- 
sciously influenced  by  Liebeault's  suggestion,  and  the  children 
in  their  turn  received  the  suggestion  from  those  remaining  with 
them. 

1  Liebeault,  "Etude  sur  le  Zoomagnetisme."     (Paris:   Masson,  1883.) 

2  Item,  "The'rapeutique  Suggestive."     (Paris:    Doin,  1891.) 


52  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Lastly,  one  must  mention  the  presumed  action  of  medica- 
ments a  distance,  or  of  applying  hermetically  sealed  vessels 
containing  medicaments  to  the  neck,  etc.  (Luys  and  others). 
But  the  magnificent  results  reported  by  Luys  to  the  Commission 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  matter  proved  a  miserable  failure 
when  all  unconceived  suggestion  was  removed.  They  showed 
that  a  great  lack  of  criticism  had  been  exercised,  and,  above 
all,  that  nothing  was  done  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  sugges- 
tion, which  could  explain  the  whole  situation. 

Following  the  desire  of  my  friend,  Professor  Seguin,  of  New 
York,  I  imitated  with  his  assistance  Luys'  experiments  with 
the  closed  medicine-bottles  on  four  of  my  best  somnambulists. 
Professor  Seguin  had  himself  witnessed  Luys'  experiments. 
The  result  was  absolutely  negative,  as  I  had  confidently  ex- 
pected. The  following,  however,  is  interesting:  I  asked  a  hyp- 
notized lady,  who  had  the  alcohol  bottle  applied  to  her  neck, 
and  who  had  up  till  then  declared  that  she  felt  nothing,  if  her 
head  did  not  ache.  She  answered,  "  Yes."  Then  I  asked  if 
she  did  not  feel  giddy,  as  if  she  were  drunk,  and  immediately 
she  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  began  to  show  signs  of 
drunkenness.  One  can  thus  see  how  a  single  insinuating  ques- 
tion may  act  suggestively.  I  need  scarcely  mention  that  I  have 
produced  all  the  symptoms  of  certain  drugs,  even  vomiting, 
immediately  by  suggestion  with  spurious  or  empty  glasses  (as 
a  control  experiment). 

If  we  consider  the  third  group  of  theories  collectively,  which 
theories  aim  at  being  somatic  and  rational,  we  find  that  they 
are  the  most  unfortunate  of  all;  that  they  have  created  the 
worst  confusion,  and  all  the  facts  on  which  they  lean  are  ex- 
plainable by  suggestion.  The  chief  error  of  these  theories  lies 
in  the  fact  that  their  results  are  mostly  based  on  observations 
on  hysterical  persons.  Now,  the  hysterical  are,  firstly,  the  most 
unreliable  persons  in  existence,  and  are  the  most  delicate  (be- 
cause they  are  the  most  unconscious)  malingerers  and  comedi- 
ans. Nextly,  the  hysterical  are  persons  who  apperceive  sensu- 
ally most  delicately,  but  at  the  same  time  possess,  as  a  rule, 
extremely  plastic  imaginations,  which  make  them,  it  is  true, 
very  suggestible,  but  actually  much  more  "  autosuggestible." 


CATAPLEXY  53 

Lastly,  the  hysterical  are  inclined  to  catalepsy,  to  lethargy,  and 
to  fits.  Charcot's  cases  were  only  prepared  hypnoses  in  the 
hysterical. 

One  must  call  special  attention  in  this  place,  in  reference 
to  what  has  been  said  in  the  first  two  chapters,  to  the  blunder 
which  Charcot's  school  made  in  opposing  the  terms  "  somatic  " 
and  "  psychical "  to  one  another,  and  in  emphatically  claiming 
scientific  argument  for  itself  alone,  because  it  fancied  that  it 
had  found  somatic  landmarks.  The  contradiction  which  lies 
in  despisingly  refusing  to  take  psychical  activities — i.e.,  per- 
ceptions— into  consideration,  although  one  refers  everything 
that  is  psychical  to  brain  activity,  does  not  speak  well  for  the 
"  somatic "  theorist.  They  always  forget  that  all  that  is 
psychical — i.e.,  that  every  contents  of  consciousness — is  at  the 
same  time  "  somatic." 

Dumontpallier,  the  special  supporter  of  Burq's  metallo- 
therapy  in  Paris,  adopted  for  the  most  part  the  views  of  the 
somatic  school,  as  did  also  the  Berlin  physiologist  Preyer,  who, 
according  to  his  book  on  hypnotism  (1890),  accepted  Braid's 
views  on  the  main  questions,  but  dealt  with  suggestion  as  a 
chapter  in  hypnotism,  as  a  sort  of  subsection  of  the  latter,  just 
as  Charcot's  school  regarded  it,  and  only  lightly  touched  on  the 
merits  and  investigations  of  Liebeault  and  Bernheim;  while 
Danilewsky  demonstrated  brilliantly  that  the  hypnosis  of  ani- 
mals is  absolutely  homologous  to  that  of  human  beings,  and  is 
based,  as  Liebeault  had  also  stated,  on  suggestion — of  course, 
meaning  on  a  suggestion  which  is  adapted  to  the  psychical  capa- 
bilities of  the  animals.1  Preyer  persisted  in  his  theory  of 
cataplexy — i.e.,  rigidity  from  fright. .  He  further  persisted  in 
his  lactic  acid  theory  of  sleep,  and  believed  that  those  cases 
in  which  hypnosis  is  produced  with  lightning  rapidity — as,  for 
example,  is  always  the  case  with  my  hypnotized — are  cataplexy 
and  hypnosis ;  but  forgets  completely  to  explain  the  cases  of 
somnolency  and  prolonged  sleeplessness.  Preyer  goes  as  far 
as  to  call  hypnosis  a  neurosis,  just  as  Charcot  did.  In  another 
place  he  admitted  the  most  intimate  relationship  of  hypnosis 

1 "  Compte  rendu  du  Congr^s  international  de  physiologic  psychologique, 
Paris,  1890,"  pp.  79-92. 


54  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

and  normal  sleep ;  but  we  will  not  deduce  from  this  that  Preyer 
considered  that  normal  sleep  is  a  neurosis. 

However,  one  has  not  heard  anything  of  Charcot's  theory 
since  his  (Charcot's)  death,  and  one  may  regard  it  by  this 
time  as  having  been  finally  buried.  I  have  only  discussed  it 
for  historical  reasons. 

There  is,  therefore,  only  one  theory  which  stands  in  accord 
with  the  scientifically  assured  facts  of  hypnotism,  and  which 
explains  the  same  satisfactorily,  and  this  is  the  suggestion 
theory  of  the  Nancy  school.  All  the  others  are  built  up  on  mis- 
conceptions. 

We  need,  therefore,  only  deal  with  the  idea  of  suggestion 
and  of  suggestive  sleep,  which  means  the  same  as  the  idea  of 
hypnotism. 

TERMINOLOGY.  —  The  terms  "  animal  magnetism "  and 
"  mesmerism  "  must  be  handed  over  to  the  fluid  theory. 

One  can  term  that  science,  which  embraces  all  the  phe- 
nomena connected  with  conceived  and  unconceived  suggestion 
Hypnotism  (Braid).  Hypnosis  is  best  defined  as  the  altered 
condition  of  the  mind  of  a  hypnotized  person,  and  especially 
during  the  suggestive  sleep.  Bernheim1  defined  hypnosis  as 
"  a  particular  psychical  condition,  which  one  can  produce,  and 
in  which  the  suggestibility  is  increased."  The  Hypnotist  is  the 
person  who  produces  the  condition  of  hypnosis  in  another.  One 
can  also  call  him  "  Dictator."  By  suggestion  (dictation)  one 
means  the  production  of  a  dynamic  change  in  the  nervous  sys- 
tem of  a  person,  or  of  such  functions  which  depend  on  his  nerv- 
ous system,  by  another  person  by  means  of  the  calling  forth  of 
representations  (be  they  conceived  or  unconceived)  that  such 
a  change  is  taking  place,  has  taken  place,  or  will  take  place. 
This  is  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  the  Nancy  school. 
Verbal  suggestion,  or  "  persuasion,"  may  be  taken  to  express 
suggestion  produced  by  spoken  words.  Suggestibility  is  the 
individual  susceptibility  toward  suggestions.  Many  persons  are 
extremely  suggestible  even  in  the  waking  condition  (suggestive 
condition  during  wakefulness).  The  conception  of  hypnosis 
in  this  respect  can  scarcely  be  limited,  since  the  normal  condi- 
1  Bernheim,  Congres  de  physiologic  psychologique. 


HYPNOSIS  AND   SUGGESTION  55 

tion  of  these  people  during  waking  passes  by  imperceptible 
degrees  into  the  condition  of  hypnosis.  Every  one  is,  however, 
to  a  certain  extent  suggestible  during  the  period  of  waking. 
Autosuggestion  is  the  suggestion  which  a  person  produces  con- 
sciously or,  as  is  more  common,  unconsciously  in  himself 
(Bernheim). 

The  conceptions  "  suggestion,"  and  especially  "  autosugges- 
tion," can  easily  merge  by  means  of  a  too  great  expansion  into 
the  conceptions,  impulse,  intuition,  belief,  automatism,  and  the 
like.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  differentiation  becomes  difficult. 
The  conception  of  suggestion  can  be  more  sharply  limited  by 
including  the  actively  moving,  suggesting  hypnotist  (the  linking 
of  one  person  to  another,  or  the  rapport}.  Still,  if  the  hypno- 
tist acts  unconsciously — as  when  someone  else  is  suggested  by 
my  yawning — or  if  the  suggestion  is  produced  by  some  object—^ 
object-suggestion  of  Schmidkunz — the  conception  of  this  condi- 
tion merges  already  into  that  of  autosuggestion.  The  latter, 
therefore,  runs  the  risk  of  being  expanded  in  such  a  way  as 
would  lead  to  misunderstandings  and  false  interpretation  of 
former  truisms  and  investigations. 

It  is  almost  as  difficult  to  differentiate  the  conception  of  sug- 
gestion from  that  of  the  influencing  of  people  by  other  persons, 
by  logic,  argument,  thoughts,  reading,  etc.,  for  a  sharp  line  of 
demarcation  does  not  exist.  One  could  narrow  down  suggestion 
to  the  limits  of  intuitive  influencing,  in  contradistinction  to 
the  influencing  through  reasoning;  but  that  which  appears  to 
us  to  be  influencing  on  logical  grounds  generally  depends  much 
more  on  feelings  of  sympathy  and  antipathy,  on  personal  trust, 
on  the  tone  or  the  convincing  manner  of  speaking,  than  on  the 
real  intrinsic  value  of  the  reasons,  so  that  even  here  the  sug- 
gestive element  has  crept  in  unnoticed.  The  higher  plasticity 
of  reason,  which  adapts  itself  to  the  other  powers  in  an  ex- 
tremely delicate  way,  often  forms  a  resistance  against  sugges- 
tion. The  brain  automatisms  themselves,  which  we  scarcely 
recognize,  or  do  not  recognize  at  all,  are  the  factors  which,  dis- 
sociated (as  in  a  dream),  loosened,  and  again  having  become 
plastic,  obey  more  or  less  blindly  the  insinuating  strange  com- 
mand in  suggestion.  And  thus  the  conception  of  suggestion 


56  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

merges  into  the  conception  of  intuition,  in  which,  as  is  well 
known,  feelings  and  pictures  of  imagination  play  a  leading 
part. 

Suggestion  and  hypnosis,  taken  as  phenomena  and  energies, 
are  as  old  as  the  human  race,  and  phylogenetically  much  older, 
since  they  occur  also  in  the  animal  kingdom.  But  only  two 
acquired  factors  are  new:  (1)  The  advent  of  the  recognition 
of  the  phenomena,  of  their  causes,  the  condition  on  which  they 
rest,  their  importance  in  the  consciousness  of  human  beings, 
and  especially  of  the  scientific  man.  This  is  no  longer,  as  it 
was  formerly,  a  dubious  mystery,  but  is  now  a  scientific  truth. 
(2)  The  astonishing  ease  with  which  hypnosis  can  be  produced 
in  nearly  every  person  by  means  of  Liebeault's  method. 

Both  these  factors  lend  a  new  therapeutic  and  forensic  im- 
portance to  hypnotism. 


CHAPTER    IV 

SUGGESTION 

1.  HYPNOTIZABILITY  OB  SUGGESTIBILITY. — Bernheim  wrote 
in  1888 11  "  Tout  medecin  d'hopital  qui  dans  son  service 
clinique,  n'arrive  pas  a  hypnotiser  80  pour  100  de  ses  malades, 
doit  se  dire  qu'il  n'a  pas  encore  Pexperience  suffisante  en 
la  matiere  et  s'abstenir  de  jugement  precipite  sur  la  ques- 
tion." I  can  fully  endorse  this  sentence.  The  statistical 
records  detailed  above  agree  entirely  with  it.  Still,  one  could 
justly  substitute  ninety  per  cent,  for  eighty  per  cent. ;  but  one 
must  except  the  insane  from  this  percentage. 

Everyone  is  naturally  more  or  less  suggestible,  and  thus  hyp- 
notizable.  It  is  true  that  some  people  boast  that  they  only  be- 
lieve that  which  their  reason  proves  to  them  to  be  clear  and 
consciously  logical,  or  at  least  which  it  has  rendered  very  plausi- 
ble. Such  persons,  however,  only  show  herein  that  they  lack 
the  most  elementary  self-criticism.  Unconsciously  and  hypo- 
consciously,  we  constantly  believe  in  things  which  do  not  exist, 
or  only  exist  in  part.  For  example,  we  believe  without  question 
in  the  reality  of  the  perceptions  of  our  senses,  which,  however, 
primarily  depend  on  an  edifice  of  conclusions,  with  the  help  of 
which  the  sensations  are  formed.  Hence,  we  are  deceived 
almost  regularly  by  false  perceptions  (hallucinations).  Every- 
one  experiences  disappointments,  places  his  trust  in  other  per- 
sons, in  maxims  or  systems  which  do  not  justify  his  confidence, 
etc.  These  are  proofs  that  we  are  intuitively  credulous,  for 
otherwise  our  thinking  would  not  be  possible.  We  would  never 
think  or  do  anything,  from  sheer  hesitation,  if  we  would  wait 
until  each  reason  for  our  thoughts  or  deeds  were  mathematically 
or  even  only  sufficiently  inductively  proved  before  we  could 

1  Bernheim,  Revue  de  I'hypnotisme,  May  1,  1888. 
57 


58  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

accept  them.  We,  however,  neither  think  nor  act  without  hav- 
ing a  certain  feeling  that  our  thoughts  and  deeds  are  right, 
without  being  able  actually  to  believe  in  them.  The  dynamisms 
(arranged  energy  complexes)  which  cause  belief  and  intuition 
are  complexes  of  brain  activities,  which  to  a  great  extent — at 
least,  momentarily — take  place  below  the  level  of  the  mirror 
of  our  superconsciousness.  And  it  is  here  that  we  find  the 
explanation  of  suggestibility. 

When  we  long  for  something  very  much  which  we  do  not 
possess,  a  contrast  impression  of  the  unattainability  of  our  wish 
not  infrequently  presents  itself  all  the  more  intensely.  This 
psychological  condition  becomes  especially  marked  in  the  long- 
ing for  subjective  feelings.  If  we  wish  to  force  them  to  appear, 
they  disappear.  If  we  attempt  to  force  sleep  consciously,  we 
remain  sleepless.  It  we  attempt  a  coitus  in  the  same  way, 
we  become  for  the  time  impotent.  In  a  similar  manner,  if  we 
attempt  to  force  ourselves  to  be  pleased  we  only  become  annoyed, 
and  so  on.  And  the  more  force  the  superconscious  will  attempts 
to  exercise,  the  greater  will  often  be  the  defeat,  while  the  same 
longed-for  feelings  appear  quite  by  themselves  as  soon  as  one 
can  give  in  to  belief  without  concentration,  especially  when  one 
has  recourse  to  the  assistance  of  corresponding  conceptions  of 
the  imagination. 

The  person  who  wishes  by  all  means  to  be  hypnotized,  who 
longs  for  hypnosis,  who  has  a  clear  idea  of  its  nature,  and 
wishes  for  the  results  of  suggestion,  cannot  divert  his  attention 
from  the  psychological  processes,  and  is  difficult  to  hypnotize 
or  is  unhypnotizable.  This  holds  good,  at  all  events,  as  long 
as  he  cannot  be  distracted  or  rendered  psychically  passive.  The 
more  frequently  and  the  more  energetically  a  person  endeavors 
to  become  passive,  the  more  certainly  will  he  fail ;  but  it  is  more 
especially  intense  mental  excitement,  fear,  all  alterations  of 
temper  in  general,  mental  disturbances,  and  a  definite  resolve 
to  resist  the  hypnotist,  which  render,  as  a  rule,  hypnosis  im- 
possible. When  the  first  hypnosis  fails,  I  seek  for  hidden  dis- 
turbances, which  I  usually  find ;  then  I  soothe  the  patient,  and 
the  hypnosis  succeeds.  Every  mentally  healthy  person  is  more 
or  less  hypnotizable,  only  there  are  certain  temporary  conditions 


HYPNOTIZABILITY  59 

of  the  mind — i.e.,  of  the  cerebral  activity — which  can  prevent 
the  hypnosis. 

It  used  to  be  said  that  those  people  who  do  not  want  to  be 
hypnotized  cannot  be  hypnotized — at  all  events,  at  the  first 
attempt.  In  my  opinion,  one  should  not  rely  on  this  statement 
too  much,  for  it  is  based  more  or  less  on  the  psychologically 
erroneous  assumption  that  the  freedom  of  the  human  will  is 
essential.  A  person  must  be  able  not  to  will  in  order  that  he 
may  actually  and  willingly  not  will.  But  suggestion  acts  most 
quickly  and  with  greatest  certainty  by  surprising  the  imagina- 
tion, by  taking  it  unawares.  We  have  just  seen  how  it  is  dia- 
turbed  by  a  protracted  premeditation.  An  easily  suggestible 
person,  who  has  never  been  hypnotized  before,  can  be  converted 
into  the  relatively  "  will-less  "  puppet  of  another  person  in  a 
few  seconds.  I  have  often  noticed  that  in  response  to  a  sort 
of  contrast  action  such  persons  who  make  fun  of  and  laugh  at 
hypnotism,  and  openly  assert  "  that  no  one  can  send  them  to 
sleep,"  are  just  the  ones  who  are  most  rapidly  hypnotized  if 
they  do  not  offer  direct  resistance,  and  at  times  even  in  spite 
of  the  offered  resistance.  It  seems  as  if  the  challenge  given  to 
hypnotism  creates  in  them,  in  opposition,  an  uneasy  idea  of  their 
own  uncertainty,  which  exposes  them  all  the  more  surely  to 
hypnotism.  This  is  just  the  reverse  of  the  failure  of  hypnosis 
in  persons  who  long  for  it,  and  are  afraid  that  it  will  not  suc- 
ceed with  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  unprejudiced,  uneducated  persons  are, 
as  a  rule,  particularly  easy  to  hypnotize  by  suggestion,  without 
that  which  one  intends  to  do  always  being  noticed  by  them. 
They  act  and  believe  all  that  is  suggested  to  them,  and  go  to 
sleep  in  one  or  two  minutes  before  they  know  what  is  happen- 
ing, and  often  even  after  they  have  been  of  opinion  that  others 
who  have  been  hypnotized  a  moment  before  are  malingerers 
and  the  doctor  a  dupe.  The  majority  of  the  insane  are  un- 
doubtedly the  most  difficult  to  hypnotize,  because  the  patho- 
logical permanent  condition  of  irritation  of  their  brain  supports 
a  constant  relative  tension  of  the  attention  on  the  impressions 
of  the  patient,  which  robs  the  suggestion  of  nearly  all  the  paths 
of  entrance  and  of  all  power. 


60  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Another  important  fact  is  that  one  can  not  infrequently 
influence  by  suggestion  a  normally  sleeping  person  and  trans- 
port him  into  hypnosis  without  awakening  him.  It  is  still 
easier,  in  the  reverse  direction,  to  transform  hypnosis  into  ordi- 
nary sleep  by  suggestion. 

Lastly,  there  are  some  extremely  suggestible  persons  who, 
on  being  taken  unawares  when  wide  awake,  show  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  hypnosis  without  first  going  to  sleep,  or  can 
completely  fall  a  prey  to  the  suggestion  of  a  skilled  hypnotist. 
The  want  of  will  does  not  come  into  consideration  in  this  case. 
One  may  at  times  even  succeed  in  this  way  with  a  person  who 
has  never  before  been  hypnotized. 

As  a  rule,  the  sleep  produced  by  suggestion  represents  the 
principal  factor  in  the  induction  of  the  full  action  of  sugges- 
tion. It  acts  like  an  avalanche  does  at  the  first  contact  which 
causes  it.  The  more  it  grows,  the  more  powerful  do  the  con- 
tacts become  which  the  avalanche  causes.  Sleep  or  slumbering 
is  produced  by  suggestion.  But  as  soon  as  this  is  present,  the 
suggestibility  is  increased  by  sleep,  as  long  as  the  latter  does 
not  become  lethargic. 

As  I  mentioned  before,  every  person  is  in  himself  suggestible. 
When  one  fails  to  hypnotize  a  person,  the  reason  must  be  sought 
chiefly  (and  one  can  be  certain  of  this)  in  the  fact  that  he  either 
consciously  or  unconsciously  calls  forth  the  autosuggestion  that 
he  cannot  be  hypnotized.  Still,  the  formation  of  this  autosug- 
gestion depends  on  the  individuality  of  the  person.  It  occurs 
often  in  hypercritics  and  skeptics,  and  thus  one  might  say  that 
there  are  very  suggestible  and  also  slightly  suggestible  natures. 

Professor  Bernheim  communicated  to  me  the  following  case 
from  his  clinic  privately,  and  permitted  me  to  publish  it  here : 

"  A  few  days  ago  a  peasant  woman  was  admitted  into  my 
wards  complaining  of  gastric  and  abdominal  pains,  which  I 
regarded  as  being  of  hysterical  nature.  I  was  unable  to  hypno- 
tize her.  She  told  me,  too,  that  Dr.  Liebeault  had  attempted 
to  hypnotize  her  in  childhood,  but  without  success.  After  two 
unsuccessful  attempts,  I  said  to  her :  "  It  is  immaterial  whether 
you  go  to  sleep  or  not.  I  am  going  to  magnetize  your  abdomen, 
chest,  and  stomach,  and  in  this  way  drive  away  the  pains."  I 


THE  HYPNOTIST  61 

closed  her  eyes,  and  in  this  way  continued  for  about  ten  minutes 
to  suggest.  The  pains  disappeared  without  sleep,  but  returned 
again  after  supper.  I  repeated  the  same  procedure  on  the  next 
day,  with  the  same  result.  The  pains  returned  mildly  in  the 
evening.  To-day  I  did  the  same  thing  over  again,  and  obtained, 
at  the  same  time  as  the  pains  disappeared,  a  deep  hypnotic 
sleep  with  amnesia." 

Since  then  I  have  repeatedly  employed  similar  tricks,  and 
have  obtained  similar  results.  It  is  the  simplest  way  of  in- 
fluencing apparently  refractory  patients. 

Bernheim  further  adds :  "  Everything  depends  on  the  right 
inspiration;  one  has  only  to  discover  the  right  key  (il  faut 
trouver  le  joint)  in  order  to  set  every  individual  suggestibility 
into  action — that  is,  to  awaken  the  suggestibility." 

I  can  only  endorse  this  sentiment.  Bernheim  once  failed 
to  hypnotize  a  person,  and  it  was  afterwards  discovered  that 
this  person  had  been  hypnotized  by  Beaunis,  who  had  suggested 
to  him  that  he  alone  could  do  so.  I  myself  induced  a  deep 
sleep  with  post-hypnotic  suggestions  in  a  certain  lady,  but  Bern- 
heim was  only  able  to  produce  sleepiness  in  the  same  lady. 
This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  she  formed  the  autosuggestion 
that  I  alone  could  influence  and  cure  her. 

It  is  beyond  question  that  the  best  hypnotist  is  he  who  best 
knows  how  to  convince  those  persons  whom  he  intends  to  hypno- 
tize of  his  capability  of  carrying  this  out,  and  who  is  more  or 
less  able  to  induce  an  enthusiasm  for  the  subject.  Thus,  enthu- 
siasm is  an  important  factor  for  the  hypnotized  as  well  as  for 
the  hypnotist ;  for  one  must  either  be  convinced  one's  self,  or, 
failing  this,  possess  dramatic  talent,  in  order  to  convince  others 
satisfactorily.  But  it  is  the  achieved  result,  the  truth  of  the 
fact,  which  induces  the  greatest  enthusiasm  both  in  the  passive 
and  in  the  active  party  to  the  contract.  The  hypnotic  epidemics, 
which  have  been  so  much  talked  of  and  so  misinterpreted,  the 
mass  suggestions,  the  "  infection "  of  hypnotism,  depend  on 
this  psychological  process.  Everything  which  fills  us  with 
enthusiasm  gains  power  over  our  brain  activity,  easily  con- 
quers all  the  contrary  impressions,  and  suggests  to  us  by  means 
of  the  stimulation  of  corresponding  plastic  pictures  of  the 


G2  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

imagination.  Thus,  the  hypnotizability  or  suggestibility  of  a 
person  increases  with  his  enthusiasm  and  with  his  confidence, 
as  well  as  with  the  enthusiasm  and  the  successes  of  the  hypno- 
tist. And,  in  the  corresponding  manner,  it  sinks  with  the 
abatement  of  the  enthusiasm,  with  mistrust,  and  with  failures. 
Still,  many  other  individual  factors  also  assist,  and  especially 
individual  plasticity  and  intensity  of  the  impressionability, 
exhaustion,  sleep  capability,  etc. 

Wetterstrand  and  Oscar  Vogt  have  especially  advanced  the 
development  of  the  methods  of  therapeutic  suggestion. 

Wetterstrand  laid  great  stress  on  the  depth  of  the  sleep,  as 
did  Liebeault,  and  practiced  the  method  of  protracted  sleep 
(continued  for  days)  in  obstinate  cases  with  great  success.  He 
further  developed  this  method.  He  hypnotized  his  patients 
together  in  one  half-darkened  room,  and  whispered  the  sug- 
gestions into  the  ear  of  each,  so  that  mutual  disturbance  could 
be  avoided.  The  whole  picture  acted  in  a  manner  powerfully 
suggestive  on  all  present. 

Oscar  Vogt  rendered  psychological  analysis  considerably 
more  sound.  He,  in  common  with  Liebeault,  Wetterstrand, 
and  myself,  adopted  Delbceuf's  views,  that  the  depth  of  the 
sleep  increases  the  suggestibility,  as  long  as  the  connection  is 
maintained.  Only  once  did  he  experience  the  loss  of  the  con- 
nection, by  means  of  lethargy  in  a  mildly  hysterical  female. 
This  has  occurred  to  me  four  times  in  each  sex. 

Vogt's  method  is  roughly  the  same  as  that  which  I  shall 
describe  presently.  Only  he  avoids  all  excitement  of  catalepsy 
and  automatic  movements.  He  simply  suggests  the  component 
parts  of  sleep  (see  below).  He  carries  out  hypnosis  for  the 
first  time  quite  shortly,  and  gets  the  patients  to  relate  what 
they  felt. 

He  distinguishes  hypotaxis  with  amnesia  from  somnambu- 
lism, and  defines  this  as  those  cases  in  which  the  hypnotized 
still  knows  that  one  is  speaking  to  him,  but  does  not  know  what 
one  says. 

Vogt  obtained  somnambulism  ninety-nine  times,  hypotaxis 
with  amnesia  twelve  times,  hypotaxis  without  amnesia  six 
times,  and  somnolence  twice,  out  of  one  hundred  and  nineteen 


VOGT'S  RESULTS  63 

cases  (including  sixty-eight  women  and  fifty-one  men).  Not 
a  single  case  showed  itself  as  being  refractory.  Among  them 
there  were  even  some  insane  patients.  Somnambulism  was 
produced  in  all  the  mentally  healthy  persons.  He  says: 

"  I  can  assert,  on  the  basis  of  my  experience,  that  somnambu- 
lism can  be  produced  in  every  mentally  healthy  person;  tem- 
porary impeding  elements  can  always  be  overcome  with 
patience.  In  order  to  investigate  the  suggestibility  of  those 
whom  I  rendered  somnambulant  at  the  first  sitting,  I  used  the 
production  of  anaesthesia  by  waking  suggestion.  At  first  I  gave 
the  sleep  suggestion  previously,  that  I  should  succeed  in  the 
waking  suggestion.  I  succeeded  in  this  way  in  obtaining  an- 
aesthesia in  the  waking  condition  thirteen  times  out  of  fourteen. 
I  omitted  the  sleep  suggestion,  and  later  obtained  anaesthesia 
seventeen  times,  analgesia  twice,  and  in  three  cases  there  was 
no  result. 

"  I  wish  to  point  out  in  this  place  that  the  suggestive  anaes- 
thetic skin  shows  just  as  little  tendency  to  bleed  as  does  the 
hysterical  anaesthetic  skin. 

"  I  have  succeeded  in  producing  a  motion  of  the  bowels  at 
once  in  twenty-one  out  of  twenty-six  attempts.  At  times  this 
was  only  achieved  after  several  attempts,  but  it  often  occurred 
at  the  first  trial. 

"  In  seven  attempts  to  stop  menstruation  immediately,  I  was 
successful  in  all,  but  in  four  cases  the  result  only  lasted  for 
some  hours. 

"  Among  four  attempts  to  bring  on  the  period,  I  was  unsuc- 
cessful twice,  while  in  the  other  two  cases  the  menses  appeared 
two  days  later.  I  do  not,  however,  claim  that  this  was  a  result 
of  the  hypnosis. 

"  The  relationship  between  suggestibility  and  the  results  of 
therapeutic  suggestion  is  a  very  meager  one.  This  cannot  be 
emphasized  sufficiently  in  opposition  to  the  view  generally  held. 
The  retention  of  temporarily  successful  suggestions  is  quite 
another  psychical  characteristic  than  suggestibility. 

"  Let  me  place  two  extreme  cases  side  by  side : 

"  A  patient  has  been  suffering  for  a  long  time  from  a  hypo- 
chondriacal  delusion,  which  is  connected  with  symptoms  of 


64  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

sexual  irritation.  The  patient  remains  still  hypotactic  after  a 
number  of  sittings.  Automatic  movements  scarcely  succeed, 
and  amnesia  fails  entirely.  In  spite  of  this,  I  am  able  to  re- 
move his  delusion  permanently  in  a  single  sitting. 

"  Another  patient  presents  himself  with  the  sensations  of 
traumatic  hysteria,  the  somatic  appearances  of  which  had 
already  disappeared.  This  patient  was  one  of  the  most  suggesti- 
ble persons  whom  I  have  ever  hypnotized.  All  the  complaints 
disappeared  after  the  first  hypnosis.  At  the  same  time,  hallu- 
cinations for  all  the  senses  by  waking  suggestion  succeeded. 
The  patient  did  not  have  any  further  symptoms  during  the 
remaining  fortnight  of  his  stay  here.  For  prophylactic  reasons, 
he  was  hypnotized  three  times  more  during  this  period,  and 
then  discharged.  He  had  a  complete  recurrence  only  three 
days  later.  The  patient  was  so  suggestible  that  he  reacted  to 
every  influence  at  once.  He  had  associated  the  symptoms  of 
his  illness  so  intimately  with  the  conception  of  his  home  during 
the  months  of  lying  in  bed  that  his  return  home  recalled  the 
sensually  active  remembrance  of  the  symptoms.  This  last 
mentioned  is  the  psychological  definition  of  the  recurrence. 

"  There  is  a  large  number  of  such  cases.  I  am  treating  a 
neurasthenic  and  two  hysterics.  The  sight  of  me  is  sufficient 
to  make  them  well  for  days,  but  no  form  of  suggestion  has  a 
lasting  result. 

"  The  old  proverb  '  Slow  but  sure '  holds  good  even  in  psy- 
chotherapy. 

"  I  succeeded  in  removing  constipation  in  persons  who  were 
little  suggestible,  and  in  obtaining  a  daily  stool  at  a  fixed  hour. 
The  suggestion  of  an  immediate  motion  remained  in  these  cases 
without  result.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  able  to  achieve  at  any 
time  an  immediate  motion  in  an  easily  suggestible  patient  who 
is  not  an  hysteric;  but  a  regulation  of  the  bowels  for  the  next 
days  or  for  a  longer  period  never  succeeds.  The  results  of  other 
suggestions  in  the  same  patients  tally  well  with  these  results. 

"  Certain  autosuggestions  of  the  hysterical  are  deserving  of 
a  special  mention.  Ringier  was  the  first  to  call  attention  to 
them.  There  is  one  class  of  severe  hysteria  in  which  therapeutic 
suggestions  only  make  the  symptoms  worse.  Two  hysterical 


AUTOSUGGESTION  65 

patients  of  this  class  were  accustomed  to  have  a  daily  stool  at 
irregular  times.  An  immediate  evacuation  was  producible  in 
the  one  by  waking  suggestion,  and  in  the  second  by  sleep  sug- 
gestion. I  wished  to  insure  the  motion  for  a  definite  time  of 
the  day,  for  the  purposes  of  a  certain  series  of  experiments.  I 
induced  in  both  a  very  obstinate  constipation. 

"  This  phenomenon  depends  on  the  fact  that  part-impres- 
sions of  the  complex  of  impressions  called  into  existence  by 
suggestion  activize  brain  dynamisms,  which  are  already  in  a 
condition  of  tension,  as  a  result  of  irritability,  before  the  re- 
maining components  of  the  suggestion  can  exercise  their  inhibit- 
ing influence. 

"  I  append  two  suitable  cases  in  illustration  of  this : 

"  An  hysteric  suffered  from  attacks  during  the  past  fort- 
night. Hypnotic  treatment  only  increased  the  number  of  the 
attacks,  inasmuch  as  during  or  after  each  sitting  an  attack  took 
place.  Later,  the  patient  herself  gave  me  the  explanation.  Her 
lover  had  taken  advantage  of  her  during  anaesthesia.  Three 
days  later  the  lover  poisoned  himself.  On  receiving  the  news 
of  his  death,  the  first  hysterical  attack  took  place.  '  Hypnotic 
putting  to  sleep  always  reminded  me  of  the  previous  narcosis/ 
she  said ;  ( it  all  came  back  to  me,  and  I  became  afraid,  and  so 
a  fit  took  place.' 

"  Another  hysteric  suffered  from  periodical  conditions  of 
clouded  intelligence.  These  conditions  were  preceded  by  lively 
variations  of  mood.  I  hypnotized  this  patient  in  this  condi- 
tion, and  made  the  suggestion  that  she  would  have  no  more 
attacks.  But  lo  and  behold!  an  attack  took  place.  The  word 
''  attack '  produced  it.  In  spite  of  this,  the  other  components 
of  my  suggestion  made  themselves  apparent.  The  attacks  had 
a  much  less  severe  character  than  all  those  which  had  been 
formerly  observed. 

"  The  same  sort  of  influence  of  suggestion,  which  is  rendered 
partly  favorable  and  partly  unfavorable  through  different 
forms  of  associative  connection,  could  be  still  better  observed 
in  the  same  patient  during  the  course  of  the  earlier  attacks.  I 
had  given  the  patient  an  injection  of  hyoscine  at  the  beginning 
of  the  condition  of  mental  clouding.  This  quieted  the  patient 


66  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

sufficiently,  so  that  I  could  hypnotize  her  and  free  her  from  the 
condition  rapidly.  The  dryness  of  the  throat  produced  by  the 
hyoscine  had  led  in  the  meantime  to  the  autosuggestion  of  an 
anaesthesia  of  the  oral  cavity,  with  a  paralysis  of  the  tongue  in 
consequence,  an  ageusia,  and  a  motor  aphasia.  Within  three 
days  all  the  symptoms  had  been  removed  by  suggestive  therapy ; 
only  an  aphonia  still  remained.  The  last  named  resisted  all 
suggestion  for  four  days.  At  length  I  attempted  the  removal 
of  the  symptom  by  a  suggestive  amnesia  for  the  whole  speech 
disturbance.  On  awakening,  the  patient  had  a  complete  recur- 
rence. She  was  again  aphasic,  and  performed  smacking  move- 
ments with  her  tongue,  as  she  had  done  all  along.  She  pointed 
with  her  fingers  to  her  throat,  and  then  suddenly  called  with  a 
loud  voice  for  '  water.'  She  drank  a  whole  tumblerful  at  one 
draught.  In  a  few  moments  the  speech  disturbance  was  gone. 
My  suggestion  had,  therefore,  at  first  called  forth  the  some- 
what vivid  recollection  of  the  illness  from  which  she  had  just 
recovered,  and  even  included  the  dryness  in  the  throat;  then 
the  remembrance  of  the  healthy  period  was  also  awakened. 
This,  which  represented  a  much  more  powerful  impression 
complex,  gradually  gained  the  upper  hand.  In  this  way  the 
favorable  action  of  hypnosis  conquered  the  unfavorable  action. 

"  The  relation  between  the  suggestibility  and  the  retention 
of  suggestions,  as  well  as  between  these  phenomena  and  the 
remaining  aspects  of  the  mind,  must  be  the  object  of  further 
study." 

2.  SLEEP  AND  HYPNOSIS. — I  attempted  to  illustrate  the  rela- 
tionship between  the  hypoconscious  and  the  conscious  brain 
activity,  and  thus  to  explain  the  action  of  suggestion,  by  means 
of  the  following  examples  in  my  book  on  the  sexual  question.1 

I  am  thinking  of  my  wife.  This  thought  calls  forth  another 
of  a  journey  which  I  am  about  to  make  with  her  in  a  week's 
time,  and  the  idea  of  the  journey  again  leads  to  a  third  thought 
at  once — of  the  box  which  has  been  chosen  for  the  purpose. 
With  almost  lightning  rapidity  three  ideas  follow  one  another 
in  consequence:  (1)  My  wife;  (2)  the  journey;  and  (3)  the 
box  chosen  for  the  journey.  Apparently,  and  also  according  to 
1  Forel,  "The  Sexual  Question."  (Rebman  Company,  New  York.) 


HYPOCONSCIOUS  THOUGHT  67 

scholastic  teaching,  the  idea  of  the  journey  is  awakened  by  the 
idea  of  my  wife,  who  is  to  go  with  me,  and  the  idea  of  the  box 
is  awakened  by  the  idea  of  the  journey,  and  is  so  produced. 
But  it  soon  becomes  apparent  that  the  sequence  of  our  conscious 
ideas  cannot  be  explained  in  such  a  simple  manner,  since  a 
number  of  ideas  crop  up  which  do  not  stand  in  any  logical  con- 
nection with  those  mentioned,  or  which  cannot  possibly  be 
caused  by  them  nor  by  any  external  perceptions  of  the  senses. 
One  has  accepted,  from  the  want  of  knowledge  of  our  brain  and 
of  its  activity,  that  we  possess  a  mind  which  can  soar  freely, 
and  also  a  free  will,  both  of  which  are  supposed  to  follow  an 
existence  of  their  own,  and  to  govern  our  mental  lives  inde- 
pendently of  the  law  of  causation.  This  assumption,  however, 
depends  on  want  of  knowledge.  But  let  us  return  to  our 
example. 

Why  does  the  idea  of  my  wife  recall  just  that  of  the  journey  ? 
It  might  just  as  well  have  awakened  (ecphorized)  another 
thought.  In  reality,  a  large  number  of  other  hypoconceived 
ideas — i.e.,  of  hypoconceived  activities  of  my  cerebrum — act 
on  the  production  of  the  idea  "  journey."  I  had  intended  to 
go  on  this  journey  previous  to  this  time  of  thinking  about  it, 
and  this  intention  had  left  behind  it  hypoconceived  slumbering 
impressions  in  my  brain  (engrams),  such  as  the  date  of  start- 
ing, the  length  of  the  journey,  the  object  and  the  destination  of 
the  journey,  the  arrangements  for  the  household  while  we  are 
both  away,  the  things  which  we  are  taking  with  us,  the  cost  of 
the  journey,  and  so  on.  During  the  extremely  short  space  of 
time,  in  which  the  idea  "  journey  "  appears  between  the  ideas 
"  wife  "  and  "  box  "  in  my  brain,  all  these  things  cannot  enter 
into  my  consciousness.  They  stand,  nevertheless,  in  so-called 
associative  connection  with  these  ideas — that  is,  are  linked  by 
a  thousand  threads  of  a  latent  hypoconceived  brain  dynamic  in 
the  brain  cells  and  fibers  to  the  idea  "  journey."  For  this 
reason,  they  call  the  idea  before  the  conceived  field  of  the  atten- 
tion, but  at  the  same  time  muffle  the  intensity  of  the  pure  con- 
ception of  the  journey  by  its  various  kinds  of  interlacing,  and 
thus  prevent  all  the  possible,  more  direct  impressions  and  ideas 
in  connection  with  the  journey  from  being  recognized  more 


68  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

powerfully  in  themselves.  That  which  appeared  so  rapidly  in 
my  consciousness  is  the  hazy  general  conception  of  my  journey 
pictured  by  the  word  "  journey."  By  means  of  speech,  with 
its  words,  I  am  able  to  condense  the  complicated  general  ideas 
in  such  an  abbreviated  definite  form.  This  flash  of  the  brain 
"  journey  "  which  followed  the  idea  of  my  wife  was  not  actu- 
ally caused  by  this  idea  alone.  It  was  brought  into  the  light 
of  the  superconsciousness  chiefly  by  numerous  hypoconceived 
threads,  and  at  the  same  time  its  quality  was  definitely  settled. 
These  hypoconceived  threads  determine  at  the  same  time  the 
particular  kind  of  the  following  ideas  of  the  chosen  box,  which 
are  apparently  alone  produced  by  the  idea  "  journey,"  although 
I  know  nothing  of  it.  The  idea  "  journey  "  might  just  as  well 
have  called  forth  other  thoughts,  such  as  the  acquaintances 
whom  I  may  meet,  the  town  to  which  I  am  going,  etc.  But  why 
should  it  be  the  box?  Because  the  choice  of  the  things  to  be 
taken,  with  the  space  which  they  will  occupy,  etc.,  exercised 
my  mind  very  intensely,  and  suppressed  for  the  moment  all  the 
other  associations. 

We  can  see  by  this  simple  little  example  that  the  three  con- 
ceptions, "  wife,"  "  journey,"  and  "  box,"  are  scarcely  able  to 
govern  each  other  causally,  although  they  follow  each  other  in 
point  of  time  in  my  consciousness;  but  all  three  are  produced 
under  the  influence  of  hypoconceived  feelings,  conceptions,  and 
former  resolutions,  which  in  their  turn  were  caused  by  very 
complicated  preceding  manifold  activities  of  my  brain. 

I  shall  attempt  to  make  the  matter  more  concrete  and  more 
comprehensible  by  means  of  a  comparison.  Suppose  a  person 
is  standing  in  a  moving,  dense  crowd.  He  calls  out  something 
very  loudly  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  mass  to  himself.  His 
voice  is  heard  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  but  dies  away 
without  producing  any  further  effect  farther  afield  in  the  ex- 
cited crowd.  This  person  is  carried  by  the  throng  against  his 
will  in  the  direction  toward  which  the  chief  faction  of  the  mass 
is  moving.  He  resists  in  vain.  But  if  the  crowd  were  to  stand 
still  and  be  quiet,  the  same  individual  might  be  able  to  gain  a 
hearing,  might  perhaps  be  able  to  wend  his  way  through  the 
mass,  and  might  possibly  be  able  partly  or  wholly  to  carry  the 


ASSOCIATION  69 

people  with  him  by  the  influence  of  his  words  and  voice.  The 
same  may  be  applied  to  the  influence  of  an  individual  concep- 
tion, according  to  whether  it  is  produced  in  a  markedly  asso- 
ciated brain  in  the  condition  of  active  wakefulness,  or  in  a  brain 
in  a  resting,  dosing  condition.  The  markedly  associated, 
actively  awake  brain  is  likened  to  the  excited  crowd,  which 
carries  everything  with  it  in  its  rush.  The  individual  concep- 
tions, compared  with  the  individual  person,  can  shout  to  their 
heart's  content — that  is,  may  come  forward  ever  so  intensely. 
If  they  have  not  previously  gained  a  powerful  hold  over  the 
mass  (the  brain),  which  can  be  reawakened  by  memory,  and  in 
this  way  strengthened  in  their  action,  they  will  be  carried  along 
with  it — that  is,  their  own  individual  action  will  be  suffocated. 
The  resting  or  even  dosing  brain — i.e.,  the  weakly  associated 
or  inactive  brain — may  be  compared  to  the  quiet  crowd.  A  con- 
ception in  this  case,  even  if  it  is  new,  and  does  not  yet  possess 
any  roots  in  the  memory,  may  influence  more  deeply,  may  forge 
a  new  path  for  itself,  and  may  give  rise  to  particular  move- 
ments in  this  direction.  But  if  it  has  previously  repeatedly 
carried  the  crowd  with  it — that  is,  the  collected,  associated 
brain  activities — and  if  the  crowd  has  got  accustomed  to  follow 
it,  it  may  possibly  be  able  to  gain  a  hearing  in  the  midst  of  the 
excitement. 

The  relationship  of  hypnosis  to  normal  sleep  is  unmistakable, 
and  I  agree  with  Liebeault  when  he  says  that  the  former  is  only 
distinguishable  in  its  essence  from  the  latter  by  the  fact  of  the 
connection  between  the  sleeper  and  the  hypnotist.  But  one 
must  not  confuse  the  term  "  sleep  "  with  the  term  "  exhaus- 
tion." Besides,  two  different  ideas  are  unfortunately  mixed 
up  unclearly  in  the  term  "  tiring  "  :  the  subjective  feeling  of  the 
tiring  and  the  objective  exhaustion.  Both  these  do  not  by  any 
means  always  fall  together.  Sleepiness  and  the  subjective  feel- 
ing of  tiring  are  also  by  no  means  identical,  although  they  are 
often  associated.  I  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  state  some 
important  facts  here. 

Physiology  is  wont  to  say  that  sleep  is  produced  by  tiring, 
but  this  is  incorrect.  Even  if  true  exhaustion  of  the  brain 
usually  calls  forth  a  subjective  feeling  of  tiring,  and  the  latter 


70  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

is  usually  associated  with  sleepiness  for  its  own  sake,  we  must 
maintain  in  opposition  to  this:  (1)  that  extreme  exhaustion 
often  creates  sleeplessness;  (2)  that  one  often  becomes  more 
sleepy  from  sleeping;  (3)  that  feelings  of  tiring,  sleepiness,  and 
real  exhaustion  often  appear  entirely  independent  from  one 
another;  and  (4)  that  sleepiness  usually  appears  at  definite, 
habitual  (autosuggested)  hours,  and  disappears  in  spite  of  in- 
creasing exhaustion,  when  one  has  overcome  it. 

The  facts  are  quite  unexplainable  by  the  very  unsatisfactory 
chemical  theories  of  the  physiologists  (the  lactic  acid  theory  of 
Preyer,  etc.).  For  my  part,  I  have  never  been  able  to  deter- 
mine the  soporific  action  of  lactic  acid,  and  regard  the  alleged 
confirmation  of  this  action  as  suggestive.  I  have  achieved  in- 
comparably better  results  with  spring  water,  together  with  suit- 
able suggestion. 

The  physiologists  (Kohlschuetter)  have  attempted  to  meas- 
ure the  intensity  of  the  sleep  by  the  measure  of  the  sound 
required  to  awaken.  How  little  one  proves  by  this  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  an  accustomed  noise  soon  fails  to  awaken,  even  if 
it  is  very  loud — e.g.,  an  alarm — while  soft  unaccustomed  noises 
awaken  at  once.  Many  an  anxious  mother  is  awakened  by  the 
faintest  noise  on  the  part  of  her  child,  while  she  is  not  dis- 
turbed by  the  snoring  of  her  husband  or  by  some  such  accus- 
tomed noise. 

Silent  processes,  as  well  as  tedious,  monotonous  processes, 
which  do  not  require  a  change  of  conceptions,  make  us  sleepy; 
and  comfortable  positions  of  the  body  and  darkness  do  the 
same.  Associated  phenomena,  such  as  yawning,  nodding, 
stretching  the  limbs,  which  increase  the  subjective  feeling  of 
sleepiness,  and  which,  as  is  well  known,  are  very  infectious, 
also  play  a  part. 

I  stated  that  the  habit  of  going  to  sleep  at  a  particular  time 
calls  forth  a  powerful  sleepiness  daily  at  that  time ;  but  certain 
places,  the  voice  of  a  certain  person,  lying  back  in  an  easy- 
chair  in  which  one  is  accustomed  to  go  to  sleep,  listening  to  a 
sermon,  lying  in  a  certain  position,  a  horse-hair  mattress  for 
one  person  and  a  feather  bed  for  another,  etc.,  and,  above  all, 
the  closing  of  the  eyelids,  are  all  very  common  sleep-bringing 


SLEEP  71 

means.  Why  is  this  ?  One  has  hitherto  called  it  habit,  "  asso- 
ciated accustoming  " ;  but  we  must  recognize  that  these  facts 
are  absolutely  analogous  to  an  unconceived  autosuggestion. 
My  small  two-year-old  son  has  accustomed  himself  to  go  to 
sleep  with  a  handkerchief  in  his  right  hand  held  up  to  his  face. 
He  could  not  sleep  for  a  long  time  when  we  took  it  away  from 
him.  Some  people  can  only  sleep  after  certain  things  have  taken 
place  (after  reading,  winding  up  a  watch,  etc.). 

But  the  most  powerful  of  all  these  associations  is  the  closing 
reflex  of  the  orbicularis.  For  this  reason  this  is  the  best  sug- 
gestion for  sleep.1 

*Von  Schrenck-Notzing — "The  Significance  of  Narcotic  Drugs  in  Hypno- 
tism" (Schriften  der  Gesellschaft  fur  psychologische  Forschung,  Leipzig:  Abel, 
1891) — considers  that  one  should  accept  that  our  natural  sleep  and  hyponotic 
sleep  are  different,  because  the  oxidation  products  (tiring  products!)  are  ac- 
cumulated. He  gives  as  a  proof  for  this,  among  others,  the  impossibility  of 
resisting  sleep  after  great  exertion.  But  we  do  not  deny  the  influence  of  the 
oxidation  products,  which  are  produced  by  a  prolonged  waking  activity  of 
the  brain,  and  we,  too,  emphasize  that  the  dissociated  or  relative  condition  of 
rest  of  the  brain  in  sleep  is  suitably  fitted  for  the  production  of  the  necessary 
chemical  syntheses — i.e.,  for  the  reintegration  of  the  brain.  We  realize  that 
exhaustion  of  the  brain  normally  can  form  the  strongest  associative  cause  of 
the  suggestion  of  sleep,  and  when  this  has  reached  a  considerable  pitch  can  act 
irresistibly.  When  we  say  that  the  suggestive  actions  are  produced  by  con- 
ceptions, we  are  perfectly  aware  that  the  conceptions  in  their  turn  are  always 
dependent  on  the  physical  and  chemico-physiological  (and  also  pathological) 
conditions  of  the  brain  elements.  The  form  of  the  brain  changes  in  the  melan- 
cholic calls  forth,  for  example,  by  the  means  of  association,  his  ideas  of  self- 
accusation.  The  facts  mentioned  above  prove  very  clearly  that  normal  sleep 
usually  takes  place  rapidly  and  as  a  result  of  suggestion.  One  is  therefore 
compelled  not  to  identify  it  with  suggestion,  although  one  recognizes  the 
adaptation  of  sleep  to  exhaustion  of  the  brain  and  the  usual  association  of 
sleep  with  the  same.  The  suggestive  action  is  therefore  just  as  physical  as 
are  the  changes  in  the  brain  produced  by  the  products  of  exhaustion,  and 
one  must  not  deny  that  the  latter  furthers  the  mechanism  of  sleep  as  a  rule. 
That  normal  sleep  without  the  hypnotist  and  without  exhaustion  can  set  in 
in  precisely  the  same  way  as  it  does  in  hypnosis  is  certain,  and  proves  that 
this  condition  of  activity  of  the  brain  is  a  thing  in  itself,  and  that  exhaustion 
is  quite  another  thing.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  accumulation  of  carbonic 
acid  in  the  blood  produces  more  extensive  respiration,  and  that  in  consequence 
we  cannot  hold  the  breath  for  any  length  of  time.  But  this  does  not  prove 
that  the  respiratory  movements  are  alone  dependent  on  the  carbonic  acid  in 
the  blood,  and  still  less  that  the  accumulation  of  the  carbonic  acid  in  the  blood 
and  respiratory  movements  are  identical  processes.  We  know  that  the  latter 
are  produced  by  muscles  and  motor  nerve  centers,  and  that  even  our  will  (our 
brain)  can  accelerate  and  stop  them.  The  acceleration  of  the  respiratory 
movements  from  accumulation  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  blood  is  a  much  more 
direct,  more  powerful,  and  more  intimate  association  than  the  production  of 
sleep  by  exhaustion  of  the  brain.  But,  nevertheless,  it  would  never  occur 
to  us  to  regard  the  voluntarily  produced  (unnecessary)  movements  of  respira- 
tion as  belonging  to  a  species  different  from  that  of  those  movements  which 
are  produced  in  asphyxia.  The  suggested  sleep  (hypnosis)  and  the  natural 
sleep  are  not  more  essentially  different  from  one  another.  The  brain  mechan- 
ism of  both  is  the  same,  even  if  it  can  be  set  into  action  in  different  ways. 
(See  also  Sec.  10.) 


72  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

When  we  observe  a  person  sleeping,  we  notice  that  he  moves, 
that  he  reacts  to  sensory  stimuli,  that  he  covers  himself  up 
again  if  one  takes  the  bed-clothes  away,  that  he  not  infre- 
quently speaks,  groans,  or  leaves  off  snoring  when  told  to  do 
so,  and  even  that  he  answers  when  spoken  to,  and  may  get  up 
and  do  things  occasionally.  Certain  people  sleep  very  lightly 
and  very  quietly,  and  awaken  at  the  faintest  sound.  These 
people  show  more  connection  with  the  outer  world. 

We  only  know  our  sleep  subjectively — that  is,  know  the 
linking  of  the  reflection  of  our  waking  consciousness — by  the 
remembrance  of  our  dreams.  We  feel  that  our  dream  conscious- 
ness is  different  from  our  waking  consciousness,  but  that  it 
approaches  the  latter  more  nearly  the  lighter  our  sleep  is.  The 
sleep  consciousness  can  be  differentiated,  above  all,  from  the 
waking  consciousness  by  the  following  facts,  as  far  as  our  dream 
consciousness  permits  the  latter  to  gain  an  insight  into  it: 

(1)  Sleep  consciousness  does  not  show  a  sharp  division  be- 
tween inner  conceptions  and  perceptions.     All  conceptions  are 
more  or  less  hallucinated — i.e.,  they  have  the  subjective  char- 
acters of  perceptions,  and  simulate  real  occurrences. 

(2)  The  sharpness  and  precision  of  the  waking  perceptions, 
which  are  produced  by  outer  processes,   are   usually   absent 
during  these  sleep  or  dream  hallucinations.    The  latter  appear, 
however,  with  very  intense  accentuations  of  feelings,  and  may 
exercise  powerful  reactions  on  the  central  nervous  system.     A 
dream  can  produce  sweating,  convulsive  muscle  contractions, 
extreme  terror,  etc.    Erotic  dreams  produce  pollutions  without 
mechanical  stimulation  of  the  penis,  while  erotic  perceptions 
during  waking  rarely  can  do  this. 

(3)  The  dream  hallucinations  are  very  faultily  associated, 
in  contradistinction  to  thinking  and  perceiving  when  awake. 
As  a  rule,  only  loosely  connected  outer  associations  link  one 
with  the  other.     The  organized  unconscious  logic  of  thinking 
during  waking,  which  becomes  instinctive,  and  which  is  gradu- 
ally automatized  by  the  psychical  dynamisms  during  the  course 
of  life,  is  not  applicable  to  thinking  in  sleep.     The  brain  ob- 
viously is  in  a  condition  of  relative  inactivity  or  inhibition 
during  sleep.     The  most  abject,  consummate  nonsense  is  there- 


DEGREES   OF   SLEEP  73 

fore  dreamed,  is  associated  and  perceived  quite  falsely  as  far 
as  time  and  place  is  concerned  in  dreams,  and  is  even  believed 
in.  As  a  rule,  it  is  only  during  light  sleep,  and  rarely  during 
deep  sleep,  that  a  higher  or  lower  degree  of  logical  control  is 
produced.  At  times  this  logical  control  exists  side  by  side  with 
the  dreamed  nonsense.  It  is  as  if  two  consciousnesses  were 
present  simultaneously — the  one  that  of  the  dream  chain,  which 
believes  in  the  nonsense;  and  the  other  that  of  the  waking 
logical  associations,  which  says :  "  No,  this  is  all  dream  non- 
sense ;  I  am  lying  half  asleep  in  bed." 

The  three  typical  characteristics  of  the  dream  existence  are, 
at  the  same  time,  the  criteria  of  hypnotic  consciousness.  They 
are :  hallucinations  of  perception,  exaggerated  feeling  and  reflex 
actions  of  the  same,  and  dissociation  of  the  organic  logical 
associations  of  the  engram  complexes.  They  are  the  best 
foundations  for  a  marked  suggestibility. 

Awakening,  the  reverse  of  going  to  sleep,  shows  the  same 
suggestive  phenomena  as  the  going  to  sleep.  One  usually  awakes 
at  a  certain  accustomed  time  by  means  of  associations.  A  light 
sleep  frequently  forms  a  gradual  transition  from  the  sleep  to 
the  awakening,  and  the  remembrances  of  dreams  are  left  be- 
hind. Dreams  not  infrequently  awaken  the  subject.  The 
capability  possessed  by  many  people  to  awaken  at  a  definite 
chosen  time  is  curious.  Here  time  is  exactly  measured  during 
sleep.  We  meet  with  the  same  thing  in  hypnosis. 

Liebeault  distinguishes  in  normal  sleep,  as  in  hypnosis,  the 
light  sleep,  with  recollections  of  dreams,  from  the  deep  sleep, 
which  usually  is  not  accompanied  by  such  recollections.  The 
characteristic  of  the  latter  is  the  total  amnesia  on  awakening. 
But  we  find,  nevertheless,  that  people  who  sleep  deeply  are 
just  those  who  exhibit  the  phenomena  of  somnambulism  and 
"  sleep  drunkenness,"  during  both  of  which  they  can  walk,  do 
things — sometimes  even  ordered  and  complicated  things — 
speak,  and  even  exert  violence.  These  are  phenomena 
which  have  been  recognized  in  jurisprudence  as  a  ground  for 
irresponsibility.  This  shows  that  the  amnesia  after  deep  sleep 
is  only  amnesia,  and  proves  that  the  consciousness  is  by  no 
means  blotted  out  during  deep  sleep,  but  is  only  cut  off  from 


74  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

the  waking  consciousness.  Still,  the  lethargic  sleep  evidences 
itself  in  a  different  way  than  in  somnambulism,  with  its  nar- 
rowed consciousness;  but  one  is  not  justified  in  deducing  the 
existence  of  complete  immovability  of  the  cortex  from  the 
immovability  of  the  motor  area.  Friedrich  Heerwagen  pub- 
lished under  Kraepelin's  direction  in  Wundt's  "  Philosophical 
Studies  "  his  "  Statistical  Investigations  of  Dreams  and  Sleep," 
which  is  based  on  the  personal  statements  of  many  people.  The 
statement  of  those  persons  that  they  dream  a  lot,  dream  little, 
or  do  not  dream  at  all,  is,  according  to  Heerwagen,  to  be 
accepted,  and  this  forms  the  foundation  of  his  statistics.  But 
since  the  study  of  hypnotism  and  many  experiences  of  normal 
sleep  prove  that  one  must  not  rely  on  these  subjective  recollec- 
tions of  dreams,  or  on  the  non-recollection  of  them,  I  cannot 
ascribe  any  value  to  these  statistics,  but  believe  all  the  more  that 
everybody  dreams  continuously  during  sleep.  Many  people 
forget  all  their  dreams,  and  the  majority  forget  the  greater 
part  of  their  dreams  (autosuggestion  of  amnesia).  I  cannot  be 
awakened  so  unexpectedly  at  any  time  of  the  night  that  I  do 
not  catch  on  at  all  events  the  last  portion  of  a  dream  chain; 
but  I  forget  this  immediately  unless  I  write  it  down  at  once, 
or  energetically  reperceive  it  during  the  waking  condition. 
That  which  remains,  then,  in  my  memory  is  the  picture  of  the 
perception  renewed  in  the  condition  of  waking,  and  not  the 
direct  recollection  of  the  dream,  for  the  latter  is  almost  always 
obliterated  very  soon  after  awakening. 

A  further  peculiarity  of  the  dream  life  is  that  the  stimuli  of 
the  senses,  which  affect  the  sleeper,  scarcely  ever  call  forth  the 
normal  proper  perception  in  the  sleep  consciousness.  They  are 
allegorized — that  is,  they  are  inadequately  associated.  This 
allegory  becomes,  in  consequence,  the  dream  picture,  the  dream 
illusion.  The  hypnotized  person  is  in  part  only  distinguisha- 
ble from  the  spontaneous  dreamer  in  that  he  is  adequately  con- 
scious of  the  influences  of  the  hypnotist.  He  allegorizes,  it  is 
true,  just  like  the  dreamer,  as  soon  as  the  hypnotist  leaves  him, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  hypnotist  actually  uses  these  alle- 
gory qualities  of  the  sleeper  in  order  to  deceive  him  in  a  hun- 
dred ways — e.g.,  in  causing  him  to  eat  a  potato  in  the  belief 


DREAM   LIFE  75 

that  it  is  an  orange.  In  the  same  way,  the  normal  dreamer 
imagines  that  he  performs  movements  which  he  really  does  not 
perform,  while  he  is  usually  not  able  to  translate  his  impulses 
into  movements. 

A  further  peculiarity  of  the  dream  life  is  the  ethical  and 
aesthetic  defect,  or  the  weakness  which  is  met  with  in  this  sphere: 
The  dreamer  is  frequently  a  coward,  and  behaves  badly.  In 
a  dream  the  best  person  can  commit  murder,  steal,  be  unfaithful, 
and  lie,  and  remain  thereby  quite  calm,  or  at  most  feel  more 
fear  than  remorse.  This  is  undoubtedly  due  again  to  the  dis- 
sociation of  the  opposing  perceptions. 

The  mutual  reactions  of  the  dream  life  on  the  waking  condi- 
tion, and  of  the  waking  condition  on  the  dream  life,  are  ex- 
tremely interesting  and  important.  It  is  clear  to  all,  and  is 
well  known,  that  the  contents  of  the  dreams  are  influenced  by 
what  we  have  experienced,  read,  etc.,  during  the  condition  of 
waking;  but  it  is  not  so  clear  to  us  to  explain  how  deeply  and 
strongly  the  dream  activity  reacts  on  our  life  in  waking  condi- 
tion, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  much  that  is  true  has  been  written 
on  this  subject.  But,  as  a  rule,  we  are  not  conscious  of  it,  on 
account  of  the  amnesia.  Post-hypnotic  phenomena  are  an  ex- 
perimental homologue  of  the  corresponding  facts  of  spontaneous 
life.  Vivid  dreams  can  often  influence  our  thoughts  and  deal- 
ings for  days,  just  as  stupid  actions  can,  much  more  than  the 
finest  logic.  It  is  amusing  to  make  such  observations  on  per- 
sons who  make  a  boast  of  their  sobriety  and  unsentimental 
reasoning.  We  only  know  of  the  actions  of  those  dreams  which 
we  can  remember,  but  suggestion  proves  to  us  that  the  for- 
gotten ones  also  can  act  on  us.  This  demonstrates  most  clearly 
that  the  brain  activities  which  appear  in  the  subjectively  sepa- 
rated introspections  (consciousnesses)  stand  in  intimate  con- 
nection with  one  another,  and  influence  one  another  mutually. 

My  friend,  Professor  Otto  Stoll,  calmly  stated  to  a  man  who 
smiled  at  hypnotism  that  he  would  dream  certain  things  about 
the  devil  at  midnight  of  the  following  day.  The  man  obviously 
did  not  feel  quite  safe,  for  he  attempted  to  remain  awake  in 
order  to  escape  from  the  prediction.  But  what  happened? 
Shortly  before  twelve  o'clock  he  fell  asleep  in  his  chair,  and 


76  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

at  the  stroke  of  midnight  he  awoke  just  as  that  episode  of  the 
suggested  dream  was  taking  place  at  which  he  had  been  told 
to  awaken.  The  dream  had  presented  itself  exactly  as  had 
been  foretold. 

A  few  examples  of  spontaneous  dreams  which  had  been 
written  down  immediately  on  awakening  may  help  to  illustrate 
what  has  been  said : 

1.  Dissociation. — Someone  dreamed  that  "  the  chief  attend- 
ant, X.,  of  the  Zurich  Lunatic  Asylum,  was  delivering  a  lecture 
on  *  Suggestion  exercised  on  Horses '  in  Norway." 

2.  Dissociation,     etc.;     Long     Dream     Chain. — Miss     Y. 
dreamed :  "  I  was  at  home  with  my  mother.     An  uncle  came 
in,  had  dinner  with  us,  and  complained  of  cold  feet,  where- 
upon I  placed  a  hot-water  bottle  under  his  feet.     The  hot- 
water  bottle  was  there  without  my  knowing  how  it  got  there, 
but  this  did  not  occur  to  me  as  being  strange.     Then  several 
people   (relatives)  came  in;  it  was  a  party.     The  table  was 
spread;  my  uncle  had  disappeared.     I  helped  to  entertain  the 
people,  and  had  just  begun  to  relate  something  when  my  mother 
interrupted  me,  and  in  a  severe  tone  told  me  to  hold  my  tongue 
— l  You  need  not  always  interrupt.'     Being  very  angry  and 
offended  (for  I  am  no  longer  a  child),  I  kept  silent,  with  the 
firm  resolve  not  to  speak  another  word,  but  to  let  my  mother 
entertain  her  people  herself.     The  party  was  suddenly  gone ; 
other  visitors  had  come,  and  I  was  talking  to  a  cousin,  but 
crying  at  times,  for  my  sulkiness  about  the  order  to  keep  silence 
still  continued  "  (continuation  of  effect).     "  My  mother  told  a 
story,  which  had  really  been  written  to  me  a  short  time  pre- 
viously.    Suddenly  I  found  myself  in  a  strange  part  of  the 
town,  and  was  seeking  a  lady  who  lived  in  a  certain  house.     I 
made  up  my  mind  to  search  each  room  one  after  the  other  in 
this  house,  because  I  had  not  found  her  the  last  time.     I  did 
this,  and  went  into  each  room,  in  which  strange  people  lived, 
who  were  lying  in  bed,  or  just  getting  up,  or  hiding  themselves. 
At  last  I  found  her ;  but  it  was  another  lady,  Mrs.  C.,  who  was 
just  then  speaking  French  to  a  boy,  and  at  once  invited  me  to 
join  in  the  conversation.     I  made  a  mistake  in  speaking,  and 
was  very  angry  with  myself  for  it.     Then  suddenly  Mrs.  C. 


DISSOCIATION  77 

changed  into  my  friend,  who  took  me  out  with  her,  as  she 
wanted  to  show  me  a  lovely  view.  We  came  to  a  bridge  over  a 
broad  river.  At  the  one  bank  we  saw  several  covered  baskets, 
half  kept  under  water  by  planks,  and  I  said  to  my  friend  that 
they  were  for  keeping  fishes  in,  I  supposed;  to  which  she  an- 
swered: 'Yes;  there  the  untamable  fishes  are  kept.'  (I  was 
not  astonished  at  this  nonsense.)  It  was  still  broad  daylight. 
We  then  turned  back,  and  came  to  a  large  house,  with  many 
illuminated  windows  on  the  ground  floor.  Without  having  been 
conscious  of  it,  it  had  suddenly  become  night."  (This  is  the 
same  mechanism  as  that  by  means  of  which  a  suggestion  is 
amplified  by  autosuggestion — the  perception  of  the  lights  called 
forth  that  of  night  unconsciously  through  association.)  "  A 
lurid  smoke  issued  from  a  chimney  of  the  house,  and  I  said  to 
my  friend  that  the  house  must  be  on  fire.  We  looked  in  at  the 
windows,  and  saw  that  a  number  of  men  (workmen)  were  pre- 
paring to  escape,  and  were  only  waiting  to  find  out  if  there  was 
any  danger  before  they  escaped.  But  all  at  once  it  was  all  quite 
dark ;  the  fire  had  been  suddenly  put  out.  We  had  not  noticed 
this,  but  we  knew  that  it  was  so,  and  it  all  appeared  quite 
natural  to  us.  I  could  not  see  my  way  any  longer,  and  asked 
my  friend  to  lead  me.  She  then  lit  a  candle  with  a  match,  and 
we  were  in  a  room.  A  strange  old  lady  came  into  the  room  and 
asked  us  something,  when  I  woke  up." 

This  dream  shows  very  clearly  that  the  reflection  of  the  con- 
sciousness in  the  cerebral  activity  during  sleep  can  be  composed 
of  a  very  variegated  mixture  of  associated  and  dissociated 
imaginary  perceptions  of  all  the  senses — of  imaginary  percep- 
tions of  actions,  of  feelings,  of  abstract  ideas,  etc.  A  con- 
tinuous deception  of  the  place  and  time  consciousness  arises 
also  from  it. 

3.  On  October  25,  1891,  I  dreamed  the  following  dream: 
"  An  unknown  young  man,  who  up  to  this  time  was  Regierungs- 
rath  (a  title  given  in  appreciation  of  their  services  by  the  Gov- 
ernment to  their  officials),  is  suddenly,  without  any  reason, 
elected  Director  of  the  Burghoelzli  Lunatic  Asylum,  without 
my  knowledge,  but  he  has  not  been  made  Professor  of  Psy- 
chiatry. In  reality,  I  have  been  the  Director  of  the  Asylum 


78  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

since  1879.  I  see  this  young  man;  they  tell  me  about  it  in 
the  asylum.  The  absolute  impossibility  of  this  fact  does  not 
strike  me  at  all,  and  its  consequences  only  appeal  to  me  by  de- 
grees. The  thought  that  I  remain  here  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  new  Director  is  living  next  door  to  me  does  not  appear  to 
me  to  be  inconceivable.  It  only  gradually  occurs  to  me  that 
perhaps  I  ought  to  retire,  and  this  idea  is  then  discussed.  All 
at  once  it  dawns  upon  me  that  somewhere  it  says  that  the 
Director  shall  at  the  same  time  be  Professor.  However,  I  argue 
to  myself  that  the  Regierungsrath  can  repeal  a  regulation  which 
he  has  previously  made  at  any  time  by  a  later  resolution.  The 
matter  is  really  controlled  by  statute,  and  cannot  be  altered  by 
regulations,  and  in  the  waking  condition  I  am  fully  aware  of 
this.  So  there  is  no  help.  Then  I  triumph,  after  all.  The 
matter  is  dealt  with  by  statute,  and  I  become  suddenly  aware 
of  it.  Thereupon  I  consult  a  lawyer,  and  prosecute  the 
Regierungsrath  for  breaking  the  law !  " 

This  dream  is  interesting  on  account  of  the  kind  of  dissocia- 
tion. The  logic  of  the  last  reasoning,  which  in  itself  is  correct, 
is  exactly  the  logic  of  a  general  paralytic,  who  reasons  correctly 
on  one  point,  but  overlooks  the  main  consideration — that  is, 
the  absurdity,  the  impossibility,  of  the  whole  situation.  The 
intrinsic  effect  of  the  thought  is  enormous.  I  did  not  harbor 
the  thought  for  a  moment  that  it  could  have  been  a  dream. 
The  meanness  and  injustice  of  the  behavior  toward  me  roused 
my  indignation,  and  I  yearned  for  satisfaction.  "  The  Board 
Meeting  is  to  take  place  on  the  following  day  (in  my  dream). 
It  suddenly  occurs  to  me  that  the  new  Director,  and  not  I,  will 
take  part  in  it,  and  I  feel  humiliation  at  this  intensely.  I  see 
the  Regierungsrath  coolly  passing  by  without  taking  any  notice 
of  me,  but  I  do  not  for  a  moment  think  of  the  absurdity  of 
having  been  dismissed  without  any  proper  notice  having  been 
given  me,  or  of  the  further  absurdity  that  this  new  Director  is 
already  in  the  asylum  without  my  having  learned  anything 
about  it,  or  of  the  ridiculous  idea  that  I  could  be  dismissed  from 
the  post  of  Director,  and  not  from  the  asylum.  I  even  think, 
quite  innocently,  that  I  shall  have  to  obey  the  regulations  of 
this  new  young  Director,  like  an  assistant ;  but  it  only  gradually 


INFLUENCE   OF   DREAMS  79 

dawns  upon  me  that  I  have  absolutely  nothing  to  do  save  to 
pack  up  and  go;  that  the  Regierungsrath  obviously  wishes  to 
get  rid  of  me;  and  that  the  most  that  I  can  do  is  to  prosecute 
him  later  for  my  own  satisfaction." 

At  this  point  I  awoke,  and  the  whole  absurdity  became  clear 
to  me  at  once. 

The  analogy  between  the  kind  of  dissociated  thought  in  the 
dream  and  that  of  general  paralysis  of  the  insane  is  really 
striking. 

4.  Old  Recollections. — One  dreams  not  infrequently  of  quite 
old  perceptions.     I  still  dream  of  my  grandparents,  who  have 
been  dead  for  more  than  thirty  years.     Their  voices  and  their 
appearance  are  a  little  dim,  but  are  still  quite  natural. 

5.  The  Influence  of  Dreams  on  the  Waking  Condition. — I 
dreamed  "  I  was  engaged  to  Miss  X.     During  the  marriage 
ceremony  I  suddenly  remember  my  children,  and  then  the  fact 
that  I  am  already  married  makes  itself  felt,  and  creates  a  tor- 
menting consternation.     I  feel  that  I  am  guilty  of  bigamy. 
Great  fear  and  excitement.     I  awake."     During  the  whole  of 
the  following  day  I  felt  depressed,  which  mood  could  only  be 
due  to  this  idiotic  dream. 

6.  Mrs.  X.  dreams  that  her  brother  is  dead.     She  is  quite 
inconsolable.      She  feels  very  depressed  in  her  mind  during 
the  whole  day,  and  has  an  indistinct  feeling  as  if  something 
sad  had  taken  place.     Every  time  she  thinks  of  this  she  again 
remembers  the  cause,  the  dream.1 

7.  Falsification  of  Memory. — Mrs.  Z.   sets  her  alarm  each 
night  for  a  certain  hour,  so  that  she  may  give  her  baby  the 
chamber.     She  hears  the  alarm  go  off  in  her  sleep,  and  dreams 
"  you  have  sat  the  child  on  the  chamber,"  so  turns  round  and 
continues  to  sleep.     Next  morning  the  baby  is  wet.     Mrs.  Z. 
then  remembers  her  dream  reasoning,  and  recalls  that  it  was 
false. 

1  Miss  St.  dreamed  that  her  father  was  dead,  and  had  been  buried.  She 
was  sad  during  the  whole  morning,  but  only  in  the  afternoon  did  she  remem- 
ber her  dream.  She  became  uneasy.  She  felt  homesick,  although  she  had 
never  before  felt  like  it.  Added  to  this,  her  head  began  to  ache.  The  patient, 
after  receiving  a  suggestion  that  she  should  be  amnesic  and  in  good  spirits, 
declared  that  she  was  happy,  and  that  she  had  been  sad  and  anxious  during 
the  afternoon  on  account  of  a  dream,  which  she  had,  however,  completely 
forgotten.  The  second  suggestion  produced  complete  amnesia  (O.  Vogt). 


80  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

8.  Actions  as  the  Result  of  Dreams. — A  mother  dreams  that 
her  little  child,  who  has  just  learned  to  walk,  might  fall.     She 
stretches  out  with  both  hands  to  save  it,  and,  waking  up,  finds 
that  she  is  holding  the  bedclothes  clutched  tightly  in  her  hands. 
Another  time  she  seizes  hold  of  her  husband's  hand  during  a 
similar  dream. 

9.  Allegorizing  of  Impressions. — An  open  window,  moved 
by  the  wind,  rattles  backwards  and  forwards.    A  person  sleep- 
ing near  it  dreams  that  a  laundress  is  vigorously  beating  the 
washing.    Another  dreamer,  who  is  suffering  from  the  toothache 
(an  abscess),  dreams  incessantly  that  his  teeth  are  falling  out 
of  their  sockets,  and  that  he  is  spitting  them  out. 

Under  any  circumstances,  the  dissociation  in  dream  life  is 
the  most  prominent  feature.  Just  as  sensations  of  smell  or 
visceral  sensations  follow  one  another  in  point  of  time  in  the 
mirror  of  our  consciousness  during  waking,  almost  without 
being  associated,  and  replace  one  another,  so  we  see  that  nearly 
all  dream  impressions,  and  also  visual  impressions,  relieve 
each  other  either  directly  or  only  partly,  and  without  meaning. 
In  her  dreams  my  sister  can  change  into  a  man,  or  into  a  table 
and  such  like  things. 

A  transition  between  sleep  and  the  condition  of  waking  is 
formed  by  the  so-called  light  sleep  (Liebeault),  in  which  the 
brain  activity  is  much  more  like  that  of  the  waking  condition, 
and  during  which  one  is  only  partly  amnesic  or  not  at  all  am- 
nesic. The  time  appears  to  our  consciousness  to  be  shortened. 
Many  light  sleepers  declare  that  they  have  not  slept,  but  only 
dozed.  They  are  more  or  less  aware  when  they  awake  of  all 
that  has  taken  place  around  them.  Still,  they  are  able  to  dream, 
and  may  even  dream  vividly.  Moreover,  among  these  persons 
there  are  many  individual  variations.  Some  of  them  can 
awaken  out  of  the  light  sleep  at  will,  and  move  about ;  others  do 
not  gain  the  mastery  over  their  movements.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  light  spontaneous  sleep  corresponds  more  or  less  to 
the  lighter  degree  of  hypnosis  (hypotaxis),  in  which  the  hyp- 
notized person  has  the  subjective  feeling  that  he  has  not  slept, 
but  has  nevertheless  been  influenced  (Liebeault). 

As  has  already  been  said,  it  is  well  known  that  many  persons 


LIGHT   SLEEP  81 

can  measure  time  during  normal  sleep,  and  awaken  at  any 
given  time  which  they  have  determined  on  on  the  preceding 
evening.  This  determination  is  productive  of  a  light,  uneasy 
sleep  in  some  persons;  other  persons,  however,  sleep  as  usual, 
and  still  awaken  at  the  given  time.  We  can  produce  the  same 
phenomenon  by  means  of  suggestion,  not  only  in  hypnosis,  but 
also  in  normal  sleep,  when  this  capability  is  wanting.  I  can 
give  the  suggestion  to  an  easily  suggestible  person  that  he  shall 
awaken  at  such  and  such  an  hour  in  the  night,  and  this  will 
take  place  punctually. 

I  have  also  been  able  to  fix  by  means  of  suggestion  those 
associations  which  would  awaken  a  normal  sleeper,  and,  con- 
versely, those  which  a  normal  sleeper  does  not  hear.  Thus, 
the  suggested  person,  for  example,  sleeps  quietly  through  a  loud 
noise,  while  the  faintest  noise  of  another  character  awakens 
him.  (See  the  spontaneous  analogies  without  suggestion  men- 
tioned above.)  This  has  proved  very  useful  to  me  with  the 
attendants  in  the  asylum  who  had  the  care  of  noisy  and  even 
dangerous  patients.  For  example,  I  hypnotized  one  attendant, 
and  told  him  that  he  would  not  hear  the  loudest  noise,  and 
would  not  be  awakened  by  it.  I  clapped  my  hands  close  to  his 
ears,  whistled  loudly  into  them,  but  he  did  not  awaken.  Then 
I  told  him  that  he  would  awaken  at  once  when  I  made  a  soft 
noise  with  my  nails  three  times.  This  was  done  so  softly  that 
not  one  of  those  present  heard  it.  He  awoke,  remembered  the 
scratching  noise,  but  had  not  heard  anything  of  the  clapping 
and  whistling.  Then  I  told  him  that  he  would  hear  absolutely 
nothing  of  the  greatest  noise  and  knocking  of  the  maniacal 
patients,  but  would  sleep  on  quietly;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  would  awaken  at  once  if  any  patient  did  anything  unusual 
or  dangerous. 

I  have  carried  this  out  for  ten  years  consistently  with  all  the 
attendants  of  the  noisy  wards  who  agreed  to  it  (this  was  a  large 
majority  of  them),  and  since  this  time  nervous  exhaustion, 
sleeplessness,  and  the  like,  have,  so  to  say,  disappeared  from 
the  attendants,  while  the  supervision  of  the  patients  has  gained 
in  safety. 

In  the  same  way,  I  have  allowed  a  nurse  to  sleep  in  bed  next 


82  HYPNOTISM    AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

to  a  suicidal  melancholic.  I  had  previously  tested  the  safety 
of  the  nurse's  suggestive  reaction  during  sleep,  and  then  gave 
her  the  suggestion  to  sleep  well,  not  to  hear  the  groaning  and 
noises,  but  to  awaken  at  once  if  the  patient  made  the  least 
attempt  to  get  out  of  bed  or  to  do  anything  to  himself.  As  soon 
as  the  patient  had  been  brought  back  to  bed,  the  nurse  was  to 
go  to  sleep  again  at  once.  This  occurred  so  regularly  that 
several  patients  who  had  been  looked  after  in  this  way  re- 
garded their  nurses  as  being  bewitched.  Nurses  who  had  car- 
ried out  this  duty  for  periods  up  to  six  months,  and  who  had 
worked  hard  during  the  daytime,  remained  lively  and  bright, 
looked  well,  and  did  not  show  a  trace  of  tiredness.  It  is  true 
that  only  very  suggestible  people  are  suited  for  this;  still,  I 
always  had  several  nurses  and  male  attendants  who  were 
adapted  for  such  duties. 

My  successor,  Professor  Bleuler,  and  Professor  Mahaim,  of 
Cery-Lausanne,  have  been  able  to  confirm  this  experience. 

The  following  case  illustrates  the  safety  of  this  method  of 
supervision  very  strikingly: 

Mrs.  M.  S.  was  admitted  into  the  Burghoelzli  Asylum  on 
August  25,  1892,  suffering  from  extreme,  completely  demented 
mania.  She  had  brought  fourteen  children  into  the  world,  and 
eleven  of  these  were  still  living.  The  births  were  always  very 
easy  and  rapid,  none  having  lasted  more  than  a  quarter  of  an 
hour.  The  mania  became  chronic,  and  Mrs.  S.  became  so  brutal 
and  violent  that  she  could  only  sleep  at  night  time  in  the  padded 
room.  She  remained  completely  demented,  and  did  not  recog- 
nize anyone.  It  was  only  in  January,  1893,  that  one  noticed 
that  she  was  pregnant.  I  was  very  anxious  about  this  preg- 
nancy. On  the  one  hand,  her  violence  excluded  the  possibility 
of  a  nurse  helping  her  during  the  night  time,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  feared  that  an  unnoticed  partus  during  the  night  would 
be  accompanied  by  the  death  of  the  child.  The  date  of  the 
partus  was  naturally  quite  uncertain.  On  March  13th  I  resolved 
on  the  following  plan:  I  placed  the  patient  in  bed  alone  in  a 
room  with  protected  windows.  The  best  somnambulist  among 
the  nurses  was  put  in  a  bed  in  the  corridor  near  the  door  of 
the  patient's  room.  She  was  given  the  suggestion  that  she 


A   SOMNAMBULIC   NURSE  83 

would  sleep  exceedingly  well  each  night,  and  not  hear  the  usual 
noises  which  Mrs.  S.  made.  However,  as  soon  as  the  birth 
should  begin  at  night  time,  she  would  notice  it  through  the 
door,  and  awaken  at  once.  I  do  not  know  how  she  was  to  notice 
this;  perhaps  the  patient  would  become  somewhat  quieter  (but 
this  takes  place  from  time  to  time),  or  she  might  whine  a  little — 
in  short,  I  do  not  know,  but  she  (the  nurse)  was  to  notice  it. 
She  was  to  get  up  at  once,  look  in  at  the  patient,  go  for  the 
sister,  and  then  have  the  doctor  sent  for.  I  only  gave  this  sug- 
gestion once  or  twice  definitely,  and  from  that  time  onward  the 
nurse  slept  in  the  corridor  outside  Mrs.  S.'s  door.  The  latter 
remained  extremely  excited,  dirty,  and  demented,  destroyed  and 
tore  everything  up. 

My  assistant,  Dr.  Mercier,  shook  his  head  at  my  precaution ; 
the  nurse  slept  very  well,  and  did  not  awaken  during  any  night. 
My  assistant  examined  the  patient  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening 
of  May  6,  found  no  signs  of  the  beginning  of  the  partus,  and 
said  to  the  nurse  that  she  might  go  for  some  time  longer.  Every- 
one was  in  bed  at  9  P.M.  at  the  latest,  and  all  slept  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  noisy  Mrs.  S.  Suddenly,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
night,  the  nurse  awakened  (she  had  never  awakened  during 
the  night  in  all  the  past  days  and  weeks,  and  had  never  disturbed 
the  sister).  She  went  into  the  room,  and,  it  is  true,  did  not 
notice  much  the  matter  with  the  patient,  but  ran  off  to  fetch 
the  sister.  She  said,  "  I  am  sure  that  it  is  coming  on,"  and  then 
both  returned  to  the  patient.  The  sister  did  not  quite  believe 
that  the  labor  was  beginning,  as  she  did  not  see  anything 
unusual,  and  as  the  patient  was  still  going  about.  The 
"waters,"  which  had  broken,  were  mistaken  for  urine  (the 
patient  being  dirty)  ;  still,  the  doctor  was  sent  for  at  once,  and 
arrived  just  in  time  to  receive  the  head  of  the  foetus.  When  I 
arrived,  I  was  able  to  remove  the  after-birth,  and  was  then 
greeted  by  the  patient  with  curses,  blows,  and  kicks.  It  re- 
quired four  or  five  persons  to  keep  her  in  bed.  The  nurse 
acknowledged  that  she  did  not  know  why  she  awoke.  Mrs.  S. 
may  have  been  a  little  quieter  than  usual,  but  complained,  as 
she  often  did.  Both  she  and  the  sister  agreed  that  they  could 
scarcely  distinguish  her  cursing,  crying,  screaming,  and  com- 


84  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

plaining  from  her  usual  noises.  Still,  some  unusual  sound 
perception  or  other  must  have  awakened  the  somnambulist  and 
reminded  her  of  the  suggestion.  The  child  was  healthy.  Mrs. 
S.  remained  maniacal  and  demented  until  the  summer,  1894, 
when  she  gradually  became  quieter  and  clearer,  and  later  she 
recovered.  Two  years  had  disappeared  from  her  memory.  She 
had  not  the  faintest  idea  of  the  conception,  pregnancy,  labor, 
and  child,  and  at  first  she  believed  that  we  were  telling  her  a 
fairy  tale  when  we  spoke  of  what  had  taken  place,  especially  as 
the  child  had  died  of  pertussis  in  the  meantime. 

This  case,  which  is  of  interest  from  many  points  of  view, 
proves  that  good  somnambulists  react  with  certainty  to  sug- 
gestion, even  during  sleep  and  after  the  lapse  of  a  long  time. 
And  one  must  allow  that  I  would  not  have  risked  such  an  ex- 
periment without  having  been  sure  of  my  grounds.  There  are 
enough  witnesses  to  confirm  the  circumstances.  Dr.  Walther 
Inhelder  collected  nay  experiences  in  this  direction  in  the 
Burghoelzli  Asylum  for  his  article  on  the  importance  of  hyp- 
nosis for  the  night  supervision  by  attendants.1 

I  thought  that  these  cases  would  demonstrate  the  hypocon- 
ceived  associative  connections  and  mutual  influencing  of  the 
dream  activity  and  the  waking  activity  of  the  brain  better  than 
anything  else. 

I  refer  the  reader  to  O.  Vogt's  views,  given  later  (section 
16),  and  especially  to  his  article,  "  Spontaneous  Somnambu- 
lism in  Hypnosis."2  He  shows,  in  opposition  to  Lowenfeld,  by 
very  excellent  examples,  that  spontaneous  somnambulism  pro- 
duced in  sleep  can  be  transformed  into  quiet  hypnosis,  and  this 
in  its  turn  can  be  terminated  in  normal  awakening  or  normal 
sleep.  He  proves  quite  conclusively  that  the  mechanism  of 
normal  sleep  and  that  of  hypnosis  are  the  same.  I  have  always 
shared  these  views  with  Liebeault,  but  it  was  O.  Vogt  who 
proved  them  most  conclusively.  Normal  sleep,  like  hypnosis, 
is  a  condition  of  heightened  suggestibility — i.e.,  a  dissociated 
condition — only,  as  a  rule,  the  condition  of  exhaustion  of  the 
brain  is  added,  and  the  connection  with  the  hypnotist  is 
wanting. 

iZeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus,    1893,   p.    201.  'Ibid.,    1897. 


DEGREES   OF   HYPNOSIS  85 

Thus  we  come  to  the  discussion  of  amnesia,  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  important,  and  in  forensic  medicine  perhaps  the 
most  important,  practical  phenomenon  of  sleep  and  of  hypnosis. 
As  a  rule,  the  normally  deep  sleeper  is  also  a  deep  sleeper  in 
the  hypnotic  condition.  In  this  the  deep  sleeper  is  mostly  more 
strongly  subjected  to  the  influence  of  the  hypnotist.  One  can 
produce  memory  or  amnesia  in  him  for  any  period  of  his  life, 
or  at  least  for  his  sleep,  at  will.  Bernheim  produced  deep  sleep 
in  more  than  half  of  the  patients  in  his  hospital  practice.  In 
order  to  show  the  very  wide  distribution  of  deep  hypnotiza- 
bility  among  normal  people,  I  may  mention  that  at  one  time  I 
attempted  to  produce  hypnosis  in  twenty-three  out  of  twenty- 
six  nurses  in  the  Burghoelzli  Asylum,  and  succeeded  in  every 
case.  Among  these,  only  one  was  put  merely  into  a  condition 
of  somnambulence,  three  showed  light  sleep  not  associated  with 
amnesia,  and  the  remaining  nineteen  showed  deep  sleep  with 
amnesia,  post-hypnotic  phenomena,  and  the  suggestive  condi- 
tion when  awake.  Catalepsy  and  anaesthesia  were  attained  in 
two  cases,  immediately  on  the  first  attempt  in  the  waking 
condition,  by  means  of  affirmation.  Neither  of  these  nurses 
had  ever  been  hypnotized  before.  Dr.  O.  Vogt  has,  however, 
surpassed  all  that  has  hitherto  been  achieved  in  this  respect 
(see  p.  62). 

3.  DEGREES  OF  HYPNOSIS. — Charcot's  well-known  phases 
lethargy,  catalepsy,  and  somnambulism,  depend  on  prepared 
hypnosis  of  hysterical  persons.  Bernheim  attempted  to  intro- 
duce a  classification  in  several  degrees.  However,  there  is  no 
possibility  of  a  precise  limitation.  I  consider  that  it  suffices 
to  accept  three  degrees  of  suggestibility,  which,  however,  can 
have  transitions:  (1)  Somnolence.  The  lightly  influenced  per- 
son can  resist  the  suggestion  by  the  exercise  of  his  energy,  and 
can  open  his  eyes.  (2)  Light  sleep,  otherwise  called  hypo- 
taxis  or  "  charme."  Here  the  influenced  person  can  no  longer 
open  his  eyes,  and  is  obliged  to  obey  a  part  of  the  suggestions 
or  all  of  them,  with  the  exception  of  amnesia.  He  does  not  be- 
come amnesic.  (3)  Deep  sleep  or  somnambulism.  This  is 
characterized  by  amnesia  after  awakening.  The  term  "  som- 
nambulism "  is,  in  my  opinion,  not  a  happily  chosen  one,  since 


86  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

it  gives  rise  to  confusion  with  spontaneous  somnambulism. 
The  latter  is  a  mild  but  nevertheless  true  pathological  condi- 
tion, which  appears  to  be  frequently  connected  with  hysteria, 
and  is  not  simple  hypnotism.  Posthypnotic  phenomena  may 
occur,  not  infrequently  in  my  experience,  even  after  light  sleep. 
Suggestibility  may,  under  certain  circumstances,  be  very  slight, 
or  even  almost  absent,  in  very  deep  sleep  (very  rare  cases). 
However,  one  can  produce  sleep  with  open  eyes,  the  result  of 
suggestion  in  waking  condition,  as  well  as  amnesia,  and,  con- 
versely, memory  by  means  of  suggestion,  so  that  the  three  de- 
grees are  very  ill-defined.  The  sleep,  the  amnesia,  and  the 
capability  of  resistance  are  herein  only  used  as  tests  of  the 
suggestibility.  It  depends  chiefly  on  what  one  has  suggested 
at  first. 

One  can  further  transform  somnolence  into  hypotaxis  by 
means  of  suggestion  with  practice  and  training,  and  hypotaxis 
into  somnambulism  by  means  of  suggestion  of  amnesia,  although 
this  does  not  always  succeed. 

4.  TRAINING. — One  has  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  training 
of  the  hypnotized.  That  one  increases  the  suggestibility  of  a 
person  by  repeated  hypnotizing  is  an  assured  fact.  One  can, 
above  all,  cause  him  to  do  everything  which  one  has  made  him 
do  in  the  first  hypnosis,  without  verbal  order,  again,  in  an  appa- 
rently instinctive  way.  The  somnambulist  concentrates  (as 
Bernheim  very  truly  puts  it)  in  his  narrowed  brain  activity 
his  whole  attention  to  guess  the  wishes  of  the  hypnotist.  How- 
ever, one  has  largely  overrated  the  part  played  by  training, 
especially  in  Germany,  and  has  overlooked  the  high  degree  of 
the  individual  suggestibility  of  the  majority  of  normal  people. 
Where  does  the  training  come  in,  for  example,  in  this  case  ?  I 
hypnotized  a  perfectly  normal,  capable  nurse  for  the  first  time. 
I  looked  at  her  for  a  few  seconds,  suggesting  sleep,  then  re- 
quired her  to  look  at  two  fingers  of  my  left  hand  (Bernheim's 
method)  ;  after  thirty  seconds  her  lids  closed.  I  suggested 
amnesia  to  her,  then  catalepsy  of  the  arms,  caused  the  arms 
to  be  twisted  and  suggested  anaesthesia.  All  this  succeeded  at 
once.  I  pricked  her  deeply  with  a  needle.  She  did  not  feel 
anything.  I  gave  her  water  from  the  fountain,  saying  that 


TRAINING  87 

it  was  a  bitter  mixture,  and  it  tasted  bitter  to  her.  I  suggested 
to  her  that  her  appetite  was  good  (with  satisfactory  result),  and 
told  her  that  when  she  awoke  she  would  of  her  own  accord  place 
the  paper-basket,  standing  under  the  table,  on  a  certain  person's 
lap,  and,  lastly,  that  she  would  come  to  me  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  without  receiving  any  further  message.  I  awakened 
her  by  making  her  count  up  to  four.  She  did  not  know 
anything  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  looked  constantly  at  the 
paper-basket,  which  she  placed  on  the  lap  of  the  person,  blush- 
ing and  feeling  awkward  the  while.  She  was  very  angry  about 
this  behavior,  which  she  felt  herself  driven  to  carry  out, 
although  she  did  not  know  why.  At  six  o'clock  she  was  alone 
in  the  ward,  and  could  not  leave  on  this  account;  but,  having 
a  strong  impulse  that  she  should  come  to  me,  got  very  excited 
and  anxious,  as  she  dared  not  follow  this  impulse.  Who  could 
speak  of  training  in  this  case  ?  The  young  peasant  girl  had 
only  recently  come  here  as  a  nurse,  and  was  hypnotized  for  the 
first  time,  and  she,  nevertheless,  behaved  just  like  a  repeatedly 
hypnotized  somnambulist,  only  much  more  directly,  and  there- 
fore more  convincingly. 

The  fact  that  the  kind  of  hypnotic  reaction  of  a  person  is 
chiefly  guided  by  the  kind  of  suggestion  to  which  he  was  first 
subjected  to  appears  to  me  to  be  of  paramount  importance.  If 
one  chooses  sleep  principally,  the  person  will  become  a  sleeper. 
If  one  chooses  to  produce  posthypnotic  phenomena,  he  will 
show  such  phenomena  chiefly,  and  will  react  during  the 
waking  condition  easily  to  hallucinations,  etc.  In  the  same 
way,  anaesthesia,  amnesia,  etc.,  can  take  the  most  prominent 
place,  according  to  the  efforts  of  the  hypnotist.  If  a  certain 
person  is  accustomed  to  react  in  a  definite  way,  it  is  much 
more  difficult  to  suggest  other  symptoms  later  on  with  a  good 
result. 

Naturally,  when  anyone  is  repeatedly  hypnotized  for  a  long 
time,  and  especially  when  the  same  experiment  is  always  car- 
ried out  again  and  again  with  him,  the  phenomena  of  accustom- 
ing appear,  as  they  would  with  any  other  nerve  activity.  The 
most  idiotic  suggestions  appeal  to  him  to  be  plausible.  It  all 
becomes  more  mechanical  and  automatic,  as  accustomed  achieve- 


88  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

ments,  impressions,  etc.,  do  with  us.  That  is  a  general  law  of 
psychology — i.e..,  of  the  work  of  the  brain. 

After  ripe  experience,  I  maintain  that  the  direct  influence  of 
the  hypnotist  eventually  diminishes  after  long  continued,  in- 
creasing training.  The  hypnotized  gets  to  know  his  hypnotist 
and  his  weaknesses  well,  the  fascination  of  the  beginning  is 
gradually  lost,  and  autosuggestion  and  the  contrary  suggestion 
increase.  While  the  suggested  portion  of  the  brain  activity 
becomes  more  automatic  and  more  mechanically  adapted,  the 
remaining  parts  collect  themselves  together  to  form  an  increas- 
ingly conscious  reaction,  to  form  a  not  suggested  second  "  ego." 
In  this  way  the  belief  in  general  in  suggestion  and  its  influences 
will  rather  tend  to  become  less.  For  this  reason  one  retains 
more  power  if  one  hypnotizes  less  frequently,  and  if  the  sug- 
gestion is  not  given  mechanically,  and  not  always  in  the  same 
way.  The  experiments  on  persons  hypnotized  for  the  first  time 
are  therefore  the  clearest  and  prove  to  be  the  best. 

5.  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  HYPNOSIS. — One  can  say  that  one 
can  produce,  influence,  and  prevent  (inhibit,  modify,  paralyze, 
or  stimulate)  all  the  known  subjective  phenomena  of  the  human 
mind  by  means  of  suggestion  in  hypnosis,  and  a  large  proportion 
of  the  known  objective  functions  of  the  nervous  system.  The 
pure  ganglionic  functions  and  the  spinal  reflexes,  as  well  as  the 
corresponding  reflexes  of  the  base  of  the  brain,  are  either  not 
influenceable  at  all  by  suggestion,  or  are  only  very  rarely  in- 
fluenced, and  then  but  slightly.  But  more  than  this,  suggestion 
is  able  to  control  certain  so-called  somatic  functions,  such  as 
menstruation,  pollutions,  sweat  secretion,  digestion,  and  even 
the  formation  of  epidermic  vesicles,  in  such  a  way  that  the  de- 
pendence of  these  functions  on  the  dynamism  of  the  cerebrum 
is  clearly  proved.  Still,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  these  results 
are  obtainable  with  every  hypnotized  person.  However,  with 
patience,  one  can  obtain  the  greater  part  of  them  during  deep 
sleep. 

These  phenomena  are  obtained  by  simple  affirmation  or  stat- 
ing that  they  are  present.  This  is  best  done  in  connection  with 
the  touching  of  that  part  of  the  body  in  which  the  sensations 
are  subjectively  felt,  and  at  the  same  time  explaining  the  proc- 


MOTOR  AND   SENSORY   PHENOMENA  89 

esses  of  their  production  with  a  loud,  convincing  voice.  One 
begins  by  asking  the  person  to  be  hypnotized  to  sit  in  a  com- 
fortable, easy  chair,  then  one  looks  at  him,  and  assures  him  that 
his  eyelids  will  become  as  heavy  as  lead,  that  they  will  close, 
etc. — in  short,  by  suggesting  to  him  the  phenomena  of  going 
to  sleep.  Every  specialist,  however,  has  his  own  tricks  and 
methods,  by  means  of  which  he  finds  it  easiest  to  produce  hyp- 
nosis. It  really  does  not  matter  how  one  sets  about  it.  The 
following  examples  illustrate  this: 

Motor  Phenomena. — I  say  that  the  arm  is  stiff,  and  cannot 
be  moved ;  at  the  same  time  I  raise  the  arm.  The  arm  remains 
in  a  condition  of  cataleptic  rigidity  (suggestive  catalepsy). 
The  same  may  be  applied  to  every  possible  muscle  position  of 
any  part  of  the  body.  I  say  that  the  arm  is  paralyzed,  and  will 
fall  like  a  leaden  weight.  This  takes  place  at  once,  and  the 
hypnotized  person  cannot  move  it  any  more.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  may  declare  that  both  hands  are  to  be  turned  round 
one  another  automatically,  and  that  all  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  hypnotized  person  to  keep  them  still  will  only  have  the 
effect  of  making  them  turn  the  faster.  The  hands  twist  round 
one  another  increasingly  fast,  and  all  attempts  to  check  them 
fail.  I  tell  the  hypnotized  that  he  can  speak,  and  can  answer 
me.  In  the  same  way  he  can  walk,  act,  command,  have 
convulsions,  stammer,  and  so  on.  I  tell  him  that  he  is  drunk, 
and  staggers ;  he  walks  like  a  drunken  man  at  once. 

Sensory  Phenomena. — I  say,  "  There  is  a  flea  on  your  right 
cheek;  it  itches  abominably."  The  hypnotized  person  makes 
a  grimace  at  once,  and  scratches  his  right  cheek.  "  You  feel 
that  your  legs  and  arms  are  comfortably  warm."  To  this  he 
answers  that  it  is  so.  "  Don't  you  see  a  savage  dog  in  front  of 
you,  barking  at  you  ? "  The  hypnotized  at  once  starts  back, 
and  then  chases  the  supposititious  dog,  which  he  sees  and  hears. 
I  pretend  to  hand  him  something,  and  tell  him  that  it  is  a  sweet- 
smelling  bouquet  of  violets.  He  sniffs  in  the  imagined  perfume 
with  delight.  I  can  make  the  hypnotized  drink  bitter  quinine, 
salt  water,  raspberry  juice,  and  chocolate  within  a  few  seconds 
in  successive  sips  from  one  and  the  same  glass  of  water;  but 
one  does  not  even  require  the  glass  of  water.  The  statement 


90  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

that  he  has  a  glass  containing  the  named  drink  in  his  hand 
suffices.  Pain  can  easily  be  suggested,  and  it  is  still  easier  to 
drive  away  a  pain  which  was  present  before  by  suggestion. 
For  example,  one  usually  has  no  difficulty  in  curing  a  headache 
in  a  few  seconds  or  at  most  in  a  few  minutes. 

Besides  this,  anaesthesia,  anosmia,  blindness,  color-blindness, 
double  vision,  deafness,  loss  of  the  sense  of  taste,  and  ageusia, 
can  be  readily  suggested.  I  have  had  teeth  drawn  from  my 
patient's  mouth  during  hypnosis,  abscesses  opened,  corns  re- 
moved, and  have  made  deep  incisions  without  the  least  pain 
having  been  produced.  It  is  sufficient  to  assure  him  that  the 
region  is  dead  and  insensible.  Surgical  operations  and  partu- 
rition are  possible  with  hypnosis,  although  this  is  rarer,  and  in 
this  case  it  can  replace  chloroform  anaesthesia  with  advantage, 
and  without  the  dangers  of  the  latter.  Drs.  von  Schrenck  and 
Delbceuf  have  described  labors  which  have  been  conducted 
under  hypnosis  without  any  pain.  If  one  succeeds  in  producing 
anaesthesia  properly,  painless  surgical  operations,  provided  that 
they  do  not  last  too  long,  are  always  possible  with  hypnosis. 
But  the  fear  of  the  operation  generally  disturbs  the  suggesti- 
bility, especially  when  the  patient  witnesses  elaborate  prepara- 
tions. The  greatest  practical  difficulty  is  met  with  here.1 

Bernheim  wisely  calls  the  extraordinary  deceptive  percep- 
tion of  the  disappearance  of  an  object  present  within  the  area 
of  the  senses  Negative  Hallucination.  I  may  tell  a  hypnotized 
who  sleeps  with  open  eyes  that  I  have  disappeared,  and  that  he 
no  longer  sees  me,  hears  me,  or  feels  me.  I  can  let  him  hear 
and  feel  me  without  seeing  me  by  suggesting  this,  and  so  on. 

Negative  hallucination  is  a  very  instructive  process.  It 
helps  to  explain  the  nature  of  hypnotism,  and  also  the  nature 
of  hallucinations.  We  owe  our  thanks  to  Bernheim  for  the 
best  studies  on  this  subject.  At  first  it  is  somewhat  striking 
how  the  hypnotized  acquires  the  appearance  of  a  swindler  as  he 
goes  round  and  avoids  that  which  is  supposed  to  have  vanished, 
etc.  One  can  observe  here  the  phenomenon  of  double  conscious- 

1  O.  Vogt  gave  a  very  suggestible  patient  the  suggestion  during  waking 
that  his  severe  toothache  would  cease  at  once,  that  he  would  go  to  the  dentist 
in  the  afternoon  and  have  the  offending  molar  drawn ;  he  would  not  feel  any- 
thing of  this.  The  waking  suggestion  was  completely  realized. 


NEGATIVE   HALUCINATIONS  91 

ness  if  one  studies  the  position  very  closely.  The  supercon- 
sciousness  does  not  see;  the  hypoconsciousness  sees  and  avoids.1 
In  certain  cases  there  is  an  association  between  both  chains  of 
consciousness,  as  mentioned  in  the  dream  recited  on  p.  79. 
This  is  also  shown  in  a  case  in  which  Delboauf  gave  the  sugges- 
tion to  a  young  girl  that  she  was  a  good-looking  young  man, 
and  the  girl  then  acknowledged  that  she  had  seen  the  young  man, 
but  that  the  old  gray  head  had  always  loomed  through.  Del- 
boeuf  had  fallen  into  the  error  of  generalizing  this  observation, 
an  error  against  which,  I  would  point  out  here,  one  cannot  warn 
sufficiently  in  hypnotic  phenomena.  There  are  converse  cases, 
either  evidenced  by  heightened  individual  suggestibility,  and 
especially  in  hysterical  persons,  or  as  the  result  of  special  train- 
ing (both  factors  usually  act  together),  in  which  the  correct- 
ing hypoconsciousness  recedes  completely  into  the  background, 
and  in  which  the  hypnotized  becomes  completely  deceived.  This 
can  only  be  achieved  if  one  succeeds  in  extending  the  negative 
hallucination  completely  to  all  the  senses:  for  example,  if  one 
arranges  that  an  object  can  be  neither  seen,  nor  felt,  nor  heard 
(when  it  knocks  against  something,  or  falls),  nor  smelled.  It  is 
always  extremely  difficult  altogether  to  exclude  a  certain  degree 
of  hypoconscious  noticing.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  very  easy 
to  combine  amnesia  with  the  phenomena  just  mentioned,  and 
the  majority  remain  firmly  convinced  afterwards  when  awrake 
that  they  have  felt,  seen,  and  heard  absolutely  nothing. 

The  study  of  negative  hallucination  rapidly  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  that  which  is  not  suggested  is  not  only  supple- 

1 "  One  can  observe  the  activity  of  the  hypoconsciousness  even  in  the 
insane  very  frequently  if  one  has  experience  in  hypnotic  experiments.  An 
hysteric  believes  that  I  am  her  brother,  and  refuses  to  be  convinced  to  the 
contrary.  But,  nevertheless,  the  fixation  of  my  person  produced  a  chain 
of  ideas  which  I  could  only  have  caused  hi  my  capacity  as  doctor.  Another 
hysteric  always  saw  a  certain  person  whom  she  hated  in  her  excitement.  She 
went  for  the  supposed  person,  but  stopped  herself  short  before  reaching  her, 
and  never  struck  at  the  hallucinated  person,  although  she  always  attacked 
everyone  else."  (O.  Vogt.) 

Every  asylum  doctor  recognizes  this  phenomenon.  In  acute  mental 
affections  the  discernment  alters  with  the  illness.  At  first  there  is  a  sort  of 
duel  between  the  healthy  and  diseased  brain  activity.  As  time  goes  on  these 
two  activities  gradually  become  more  reconciled  to  one  another,  to  the 
detriment  of  logic.  The  diseased  chain  works  more  superconsciously  and 
the  healthy  chain  more  hypoconsciously.  Thus  a  patient  imagining  him- 
self to  be  God  or  a  king  is  quite  willing  to  undertake  menial  duties,  and 
another  who  believes  that  he  is  starving  or  dying  eats  with  a  regal  appetite. 


92  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

mented  by  every  hypnotized  person  according  to  its  kind,  as  it 
is  with  all  suggestions  (the  one  hallucinates  the  chair  behind 
the  person  who  is  supposed  to  have  vanished,  on  which  he  is 
really  sitting ;  the  second  hallucinates  a  mist,  and  so  on)  ;  but 
every  negative  hallucination  of  sight  is  complemented  by  a 
positive  one,  and,  conversely,  almost  every  positive  hallucina- 
tion is  complemented  by  a  negative  one.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
one  cannot  see  a  gap  in  the  field  of  vision  without  placing  some- 
thing into  it,  even  if  it  be  only  a  black  background ;  and,  con- 
versely, one  cannot  hallucinate  anything  positively  without 
covering  a  portion  of  the  visual  field,  or  at  least,  as  in  the  case 
of  transparent  hallucinations,  rendering  this  part  misty.  The 
same  takes  place  also  with  many  deceptions  of  hearing  and 
feeling.  When  a  voice  is  hallucinated,  actual  sounds  are  often 
not  heard.  If  a  blackbird's  song  is  changed  into  a  satire  (illu- 
sion), the  bird's  song  is  no  longer  recognized  as  such.  If  one 
lies  in  bed  and  hallucinates  that  one  is  lying  on  a  pin-cushion, 
one  no  longer  feels  the  soft  mattress,  and  so  on. 

These  facts  led  me  to  study  the  negative  hallucinations  in 
the  insane,  and  I  was  astonished  to  find  how  frequently  this 
phenomenon  really  occurs.  I  first  reported  on  this  subject  in 
1889  in  the  Verein  schweizerischer  Irrenaerzte  (the  Associa- 
tion of  Swiss  Asylum  Doctors),  and  later  in  the  Congress  on 
Hypnotism  in  Paris,1  and  gave  examples  illustrative  of  this. 
One  has  scarcely  paid  any  attention  to  this  hitherto,  since  the 
patients  mostly  only  speak  of  the  positive  parts  of  the  phe- 
nomena, unless  one  asks  them  especially. 

It  is  interesting  to  analyze  the  process  of  negative  hallucina- 
tion in  the  light  of  Semon's  Mneme  theory.  The  engram  is 
that  which  I  formerly  termed  dynamic  trace  (Kibot).2  The 
engrains  are  not  produced  in  reality  by  single,  completely 
isolated  stimuli,  but  by  associated  stimuli  complexes,  and  they 
form  in  this  way  associated  engram  complexes.  As  is  known, 
the  association  takes  place  either  in  point  of  place  or  in  point 
of  time. 

Engrams  can  be  associated  simultaneously  in  point  of  place, 

1  "Compte  rendu,"  by  Be"rillon,  p.  122.     (Paris:  O.  Doin,  1890.) 

2  A.  Forel,  "Memory  and  its  Abnormalities."     (Zurich:   Orell,  Fussli  and 
Co.,  1885.) 


MNEME  THEORY  93 

according  to  Semon.  Simultaneous  engram  complexes  exist — 
as,  for  example,  especially  those  which  we  receive  by  means  of 
our  sense  of  sight.  They  can  also  be  associated  in  sequence,  as 
is  particularly  the  case  with  the  sense  of  hearing  and  in  onto- 
genia.  The  chief  difference  between  simultaneous  and  succes- 
sive engram  complexes  is  that  the  simultaneous  complexes  are 
ambiguously  linked  as  equivalents,  while  the  engrams  in 
sequence  are  linked  polarly  as  unequivalents.  In  the  sequence 
a-b,  a  acts  much  more  strongly  on  b  than  b  does  on  a,  thus  the 
backward  action  is  weaker.  If  I  ask  "  woh,"  instead  of 
"  how,"  for  example,  the  person  asked  does  not  realize  at  once 
that  "  woh  "  is  the  reverse  of  "  how."  It  often  occurs  in  the 
sequence  of  engrams  that  two  or  more  similar  engrams  are  more 
or  less  equivalently  associated  with  one  that  has  preceded.  In 
such  a  case  Semon  speaks  of  dichotomy,  trichotomy,  etc. ;  but 
as  two  succeeding  engrams  cannot  be  ecphorized  simultaneously 
from  the  one  which  has  preceded,  that  which  Semon  calls 
"  alternative  ecphoria  "  takes  place.  This  is,  that  either  the 
one  or  the  other  of  the  succeeding  associated  engrams  are  ecpho- 
rized. In  such  an  alternation  it  will  depend  on  the  frequent 
repetition  of  the  one  branch  that  this  one  is  more  frequently 
ecphorized  than  the  others.  Thus,  for  example,  in  the  second 
verse  of  the  text  of  a  song,  if  this  has  two  versions,  as  is  the 
case  in  Goethe's  well-known  song: 

Waldern  horest  du  keinen 
liber  alien  Gipfeln  ist  Ruh,  in  allen<^  Hauch. 

Wipfeln  spiirest  du  kaum 
einen  Hauch.1 

These  forms  of  alternative  ecphorias  play  a  most  important 
part  in  the  laws  of  ontogenia  and  of  inheritance.  The  more 
frequently  repeated,  stronger  engram  branch  is  usually  alone 
ecphorized,  while  the  other  or  others  generally  remain  com- 
pletely latent.  The  latter  may,  however,  be  ecphorized  under 
favorable  conditions — e.g.,  in  the  following  generation. 

/\&  every  woodland  you  do  not 
1  High  on  the   tree-tops  all  is  peace^  feel  a  breath. 

^on  every  summit  you   scarcely 
feel  a  breath. 


94  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

On  regarding  the  place  association,  one  meets  with  something 
of  the  same  sort,  in  so  far  as  the  whole  of  the  same  space  cannot 
possibly  be  filled  at  the  same  time  by  two  different  sensations 
or  complexes  of  sensations  in  our  consciousness.  For  example, 
I  cannot  see  the  same  surface  of  one  square  centimeter  red  and 
blue  at  the  same  time.  Either  the  sensations  of  blue  and  red 
fill  two  surfaces  placed  side  by  side,  or  the  same  surface  can  be 
first  seen  red  and  then  blue,  or  the  reverse.  This  law,  which 
is  obviously  caused  by  the  conditions  of  the  outer  world — that 
is,  by  the  projection  of  these  conditions  in  the  brain — repeats 
itself  in  the  so-called  impressions  of  memory  (in  the  ecphorized 
engrams),  no  matter  whether  these  be  hallucinated  or  whether 
they  be  only  imagined  internally. 

An  intelligent  person  suffering  from  recurrent  insanity  hal- 
lucinated that  she  was  in  a  subterraneous  passage  and  witnessed 
an  execution,  while  she  was  lying  in  a  bed  in  the  dormitory. 
She  told  me  later  quite  clearly,  on  being  questioned  by  me,  that 
while  she  had  this  hallucination  she  no  longer  saw  the  whole 
dormitory,  including  the  beds,  and  did  not  even  hear  the  noise 
of  the  patients  in  the  neighboring  corridor. 

If  we  now  regard  negative  hallucination  in  the  light  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Mneme,  we  are  bound  to  admit  that  dichoto- 
mies occur  even  in  simultaneous  engrams.  These  can  be  alter- 
nately ecphorized,  especially  when  the  same  space  is  occupied 
by  different  impressions  of  the  senses.  For  example,  I  can 
imagine  a  pine  tree  or  a  fir  tree  in  the  same  imagined  place,  but 
not  both  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  place.  I  can  there- 
fore ecphorize  the  picture  of  the  pine  or  the  picture  of  the  fir. 
The  power  of  suggestion  acts  on  the  negative  hallucination,  so 
that  the  ecphoria  of  a  formerly  suggested  sight  engram,  for 
example,  acts  more  strongly  than  the  stimulation  of  the  light 
which  reaches  the  brain  of  the  person,  hallucinating  through  his 
eye.  Thereby  even  the  original  direct  stimulation  will  be  out- 
weighed by  the  alternating  ecphoria  of  an  old  engram  in  the 
brain.  The  same  applies  to  the  sense  of  touch. 

But,  just  as  with  the  alternating  ecphorias  in  sequence,  the 
branches  of  the  dichotomies  which  are  not  ecphorized  remain 
latent  in  the  brain.  Such  a  latency  plays  a  large  part,  un- 


SIMULTANEOUS   ENGRAMS — REFLEXES  95 

doubtedly,  in  all  hypnotic  and  also  in  all  psychological  phe- 
nomena. 

I  am  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  worth  while  to  investigate 
the  Mneme  theory  of  Semon  further  in  this  direction. 

One  need  scarcely  add  that  hallucination  is  a  purely  cerebral 
process,  which  is  just  as  little  influenced  by  the  laws  of  optics, 
etc.,  as  the  area  of  distribution  of  a  suggested  anaesthesia  is 
influenced  by  the  area  of  distribution  of  the  peripheral  sensory 
nerves.  It  is  well  known  that  a  man  whose  finger  has  been 
amputated  often  hallucinates  his  removed  finger,  and  that  a 
person  whose  optic  nerves  are  destroyed  can  have  visual  hallu- 
cinations for  many  years  after  the  destruction.  I  have  observed 
a  striking  case  of  this  in  the  Burghoelzli  Asylum  in  Zurich. 
A  man  had  his  eye  destroyed  by  a  shot  thirty  years  previously 
(March,  1865)  by  the  North  American  Indians.  The  other 
eye  was  lost  soon  after  from  a  sympathetic  inflammation.  The 
man  had  the  most  marked  visual  hallucinations,  although  he 
had  been  retinally  blind  for  twenty-eight  years  (since  1867). 
He  had  his  last  hallucination  of  sight  at  the  end  of  the  year 
1893.  In  all  other  respects  he  was  quite  normal,  and  gave 
very  clear  descriptions  of  his  visions.  The  autopsy  undertaken 
later  revealed  complete  atrophy  of  both  optic  nerves. 

Reflexes. — I  say,  "  You  are  yawning."  The  hypnotized 
yawns.  "  You  feel  an  irritation  in  your  nose,  and  must  sneeze 
three  times  in  succession."  The  hypnotized  immediately 
sneezes  three  times  in  the  most  natural  way.  Vomiting,  hic- 
cough, etc.,  can  be  produced  in  the  same  manner.  One  is  deal- 
ing with  the  so-called  psychical  reflexes  here,  which  are  pro- 
duced by  perceptions. 

The  most  extraordinary  phenomena  of  suggestion  are  found 
in  the  vaso-motor,  secretory,  and  exudative  actions.  One  can 
produce  menstruation  in  women  by  simple  prophesying  during 
hypnosis,  or  can  cause  it  to  stop.  One  can  regulate  its  inten- 
sity and  duration.  I  have  even  been  able  to  obtain  with 
certainty  punctuality  to  the  minute,  both  as  regard  the  com- 
mencement and  the  termination  in  some  subjects.  Blushing  and 
becoming  pale  can  be  achieved.  In  the  same  way,  reddening  of 
certain  parts  of  the  body  or  areas  of  the  skin,  bleeding  of  the 


96  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

nose,  and  even  the  bleeding  habit,  can  be  produced.  However, 
these  are  very  rare  results.  The  pulse  can  be  quickened  or 
slowed  occasionally. 

I  have  been  able  to  regulate  the  menstruation  in  several  cases 
for  years  in  such  a  way  that  the  period  always  appeared  at  the 
same  date  of  the  month — e.g.,  the  first — no  matter  whether  the 
month  had  thirty-one,  thirty,  or  twenty-eight  days.  These 
cases  will  be  given  later.  The  matter  is  of  importance  for  the 
theory  of  the  relation  of  menstruation  to  ovulation.  One 
gynaecologist  told  me  that  he  regarded  such  menses  obtained 
by  suggestion  as  uterine  haemorrhages,  and  not  as  menstruation. 
Could  such  an  opinion  hold  good  if  the  menstruation  remains 
regulated  for  years,  and  the  woman  has  normal  pregnancies 
and  labors  in  the  meantime  ?  The  usual  theories  on  the  relation 
between  ovulation  and  menstruation  are  still  very  insecure. 
Animals  ovulate  without  menstruating,  and  the  same  takes 
place  in  some  women.  In  my  opinion  there  are  two  possibili- 
ties: 

(1)  Either  menstruation  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
ovulation,  and  only  serves  to  form  the  decidua  more  or  less 
periodically,  and  in  this  way  to  freshen  up  the  uterine  mucosa, 
so  that  the  ovum  can  attach  itself  well.    For  this  purpose,  how- 
ever,  a  bleeding  would  not   be  absolutely  necessary;   a   free 
fluxion  or  hyperaemia  would  appear  to  suffice.     There  is  much 
which  speaks  in  favor  of  this  view. 

(2)  Or  that  both  processes  are  so  intimately  connected  with 
one  another  that  the  ripening  of  the  ovum  does  not  necessitate 
the  immediate  casting  out  of  it,  but  that  the  ripened  ovum  can 
wait  in  the  Graafian  follicle,  and  that  the  same  periodical  nerve 
process  of  the  fluxion  or  menstruation  produces  at  the  same 
time  the  casting  out  of  the  ripe  ova  from  the  Graafian  follicles 
and  the  fluxion  or  uterine  bleeding,  by  the  osmotic  process  in 
the  follicles  being  favored  by  the  hyperaemia. 

The  way  in  which  menstruation  depends  on  suggestion  admits 
of  both  these  explanations  in  my  opinion,  but  does  not  tally 
with  the  view  that  menstruation  is  produced  purely  as  second- 
ary to  ovulation. 

I  refer  those  who  still  are  skeptical  about  the  influence  of 


VESICATION  97 

suggestion  to  Delius's  work.1  Delius  records  sixty  cases  of 
menstrual  disturbances  which  were  nearly  all  cured  by  sugges- 
tion, or  very  materially  improved. 

It  is  easy  to  produce  the  secretion  of  sweat  by  suggestion, 
or  to  inhibit  it.  The  influence  on  the  movements  of  the  bowels 
is  of  greater  importance.  One  can  produce  diarrhoea  or  con- 
stipation very  often,  or,  what  is  of  greater  value,  stop  it.  I 
have  completely  cured  obstinate  cases  of  constipation  which 
have  lasted  for  years  by  a  few  suggestions  (vide  infra).  The 
same  applies  to  diarrhosa,  as  long  as  it  does  not  depend  on  in- 
flammatory conditions  or  on  fermentation.  The  stimulation  of 
the  appetite,  of  the  digestion,  and  the  removal  of  idiosyncrasies 
by  suggestion  behave  similarly.  The  secretion  of  the  gastric 
glands  is  regulated  or  influenced  without  doubt  by  means  of 
the  suggested  perception.  In  the  influencing  of  menstruation 
a  vaso-motor  paralysis  simply  or  a  vaso-motor  spasm  is  produced 
by  the  perception.  Thus  it  can  be  demonstrated  ad  oculos  how 
completely  independent  the  menstruation  can  be  from  ovulation. 
The  same  process  takes  place  by  the  induction  or  inhibition  of 
erections  by  suggestion,  and  in  this  way  pollutions  can  be  in- 
fluenced. Urticarial  wheals  can  be  produced  in  certain  very 
suggestible  persons  by  simply  touching  the  skin.  One  can  pro- 
duce their  name  in  graphic  wheals  on  their  skin  with  a  pencil 
(dermographism).  I  regard  this  phenomenon  of  pathological 
reflex  irritability  as  not  only  related  to  urticaria,  but  also  to 
hysterical  suggestibility.  Von  Schrenck  and  others  have  con- 
troverted in  the  other  direction,  and  have  explained  the  matter 
simply  as  a  pathological,  urticaria-like  phenomenon.  But  a 
suggestibility  which  is  pathologically  increased  in  one  special 
direction  is  nevertheless  pathological,  as  are  all  the  pathological 
increasings  or  diminishings  of  the  normal  life  phenomena.  One 
should  not  set  up  antitheses  where  none  are  present.  Von 
Shrenck  doubts  the  authenticity  of  the  suggestive  vesication. 
Against  this,  Wetterstrand2  produced  two  gangrenous  vesicles 
by  means  of  suggestion  in  somnambulism.  One  of  these,  situ- 

1  Delius,  "  The  Influence  of  Cerebral  Processes  on  Menstruation,  and  the 
Treatment  of  Disturbances  of  Menstruation  by  Hypnotic  Suggestion."  (Wie- 
ner Klinische  Rundschau,  Nos.  11  and  12,  1905.) 

1  Wetterstrand,  "Hypnotism,"  p.  31.     (Vienna  and  Leipzig,  1891.) 


98  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

ated  in  the  middle  of  the  hand,  was  produced  on  October  7, 
1890,  and  the  other,  on  the  thumb  side  of  the  hand,  was  pro- 
duced on  October  14,  and  he  photographed  them  on  October  15. 
Both  vesicles  appeared  eight  hours  after  the  suggestion  was 
given.  The  patient,  a  nineteen-years-old  epileptic,  was  con- 
trolled and  carefully  watched,  and  no  attacks  took  place  from 
July  15,  1889,  until  the  day  Wetterstrand  sent  in  his  article 
on  December  14,  1890.  The  very  excellent  original  photograph 
which  Wetterstrand  sent  me  is  in  my  possession.  I  have  seen 
one  other  case  like  this  in  the  practice  of  Dr.  Marcel  Briand 
in  Paris.  The  patient  was  an  hysterical  female,  and  the  blisters 
were  produced  beneath  a  newspaper  by  suggestion.  While  these 
cases  are  very  rare,  it  is  very  easy  to  produce  bleeding  from 
the  mucous  membrane  by  suggestion. 

The  following  cases  seem  to  me  to  be  interesting,  and  to  be 
very  nearly  related  to,  or  identical  with,  suggestion :  A  nervous, 
sensitive  parson  was  slandered  by  a  woman,  wrho  perjured  her- 
self in  a  court  of  law.  Shortly  after  this  the  parson's  hair  in 
the  neighborhood  of  both  temples  turned  white.  Later,  how- 
ever, his  hair  regained  its  black  or  brown  color — i.e.,  the  white 
hairs  gradually  fell  out,  and  were  replaced  by  brown  hairs.  I 
myself  have  treated  a  woman,  aged  forty-eight  years,  whose 
mind  was  severely  affected.  Her  hair  had  rapidly  turned  white 
one  and  a  half  years  previously,  in  consequence  of  deeply  affect- 
ing experiences  and  great  exhaustion.  While  she  was  in  the 
asylum  under  my  care  she  improved  bodily,  and  she  got  a 
copious  growth  of  dark  brown  hair.  It  looked  as  if  every  bunch 
of  hair  was  brown  at  the  roots  and  white  at  the  tips ;  but,  on 
looking  more  closely,  one  found  that  the  brown  hairs  were  only 
shorter,  and  thus  covered  the  roots  of  the  long  white  hairs. 
The  latter  were  much  longer  and  also  much  sparser,  as  they 
had  fallen  out  considerably  six  months  after  they  had  turned 
white.  I  published  this  case  in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotis- 
mus  in  1897. 

Feelings,  Impulses,  and  Disturbances  of  Mood. — It  is  easy 
to  suggest  or  inhibit  appetite,  thirst,  and  sexual  impulse  by 
affirmation.  One  can  increase  the  action  of  the  suggestion  by 
palpating  the  stomach,  or  by  causing  suggested  foodstuffs  to  be 


FEELINGS  AND   IMPULSES  99 

eaten,  etc.  Fear,  happiness,  hatred,  anger,  jealousy,  love  for 
some  one  or  something,  etc.,  are  easily  produced  by  suggestion — 
at  all  events,  for  the  time  being ;  to  these  one  can  add  laughing 
and  crying.  Onanism  and  bed-wetting  have  often  been  cured 
in  this  way. 

Thinking  processes,  memory,  consciousness,  and  will,  can 
also  be  influenced.  I  say :  "  You  will  forget  all  that  I  have 
told  you  while  you  are  asleep,  and  only  remember  that  you 
have  had  a  kitten  on  your  lap  and  have  stroked  it."  After  the 
hypnotized  person  has  awakened,  he  forgets  everything  save 
the  kitten  episode.  Frank  said  to  a  young  lady  who  spoke 
French  well :  "  You  cannot  speak  French  any  longer  until  I 
again  suggest  it  to  you."  And  this  poor  lady  was  incapable  of 
using  the  French  language  until  this  suggestion  was  taken  away 
from  her.  She  might  have  been  rendered  dumb,  and  all  her 
psychical  qualities  could  have  been  taken  from  her  instantly 
and  at  will,  by  the  means  of  simple  suggestion.  Since  this  I 
have  frequently  succeeded  with  similar  experiments.  I  caused 
the  long  since  deceased  relatives  of  a  somnambulist  to  appear 
to  her  posthypnotically,  and  she  conversed  with  them  for  a  long 
time.  I  allowed  others  to  walk  on  the  sea  or  on  a  river,  like  St. 
Peter.  I  transformed  others  into  hungry  wolves  or  lions,  and 
they  barked  at  me  and  wanted  to  attack  and  bite  me.  On  one 
occasion  blood  was  even  drawn  by  a  bite.  I  wish  to  call  Pro- 
fessor Delboeuf's  attention  to  this.  I  transformed  a  man  into 
a  girl,  and  he  remembered  menstruating;  and,  conversely,  I 
changed  a  girl  into  an  officer.  When  the  suggestion  of  child- 
hood is  made  to  good  somnambulists,  the  speech  and  writing 
are  correspondingly  altered.  Such  occurrences  leave  a  deep 
impression  of  mood  behind,  unless  one  suggests  amnesia  for  the 
whole  episode  afterwards. 

I  can  suggest  to  a  hypnotized  any  thought  I  please,  or  any 
idea.  I  can  force  any  conviction  on  him — e.g.,  that  he  does 
not  care  any  more  for  wine,  that  he  should  belong  to  this  or  that 
society,  or  that  he  likes  things  which  he  used  not  to  care  for.  I 
have  achieved  deep  pangs  of  conscience,  remorse,  public  (spon- 
taneous)' confession  to  the  president  of  the  temperance  society, 
and  renewal  of  the  oath  of  abstinence,  without  speaking  a  word 


100  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

to  her  while  she  was  awake,  in  an  alcoholic  woman  who  had 
broken  her  vow  to  observe  abstinence,  by  suggestion.  The 
result  was  most  striking,  and  took  effect  immediately  on  the 
hypnosis.  JSTo  signs  of  this  had  been  noticeable  before. 

The  influence  on  resolutions  of  will  is  particularly  important. 
Resolutions  of  will  of  the  hypnotized  person  can  not  infre- 
quently be  influenced  at  pleasure.  It  has  often  been  said  that 
this  person  becomes  devoid  of  will,  or  weak-willed.  That  is  a 
mistake,  which  is  partly  due  to  the  false  supposition  of  an 
essentially  free  human  will.  One  can  rather  strengthen  a  weak 
will  by  means  of  hypnosis. 

Still,  it  is  much  easier  to  influence  a  definite  localized  phe- 
nomenon— e.g.,  the  craving  for  alcohol,  a  definite  passion,  etc. 
— than  to  influence  general  characteristics  or  changes  of  mood. 
The  latter  are  in  themselves  extremely  difficult  to  govern,  and 
I  doubt  whether  marked  inherited  constitutional  characteristics 
or  predispositions  can  be  influenced  materially.  Under  no  cir- 
cumstances could  this  influence  be  lasting,  while  acquired  habits 
can,  undoubtedly,  be  removed.  One  can  influence  momentarily 
the  direction  of  the  will,  can  provoke  resolutions  and  quash 
others,  but  one  cannot  permanently  alter  the  conformation  of 
the  will,  taken  as  a  general  quality  of  the  character  of  an  indi- 
vidual, by  suggestion. 

6.  RESISTANCE  OF  THE  HYPNOTIZED  PERSON;  AUTOSUGGES- 
TION.— I  have  induced  all  the  phenomena  detailed  and  many 
others,  as  Liebeault,  Bernheim,  and  others  have  done,  in  my 
hypnotized. 

However,  as  Bernheim  has  rightly  emphasized,  one  need 
not  allow  one's  self  to  be  blinded  by  the  impression  of  these 
facts,  which  appear  to  be  almost  terrifying  and  phantastic. 
One  should,  further,  not  overlook  the  other  side  of  the  phe- 
nomenon— that  is,  the  resistance  of  the  brain  activity  of  the 
hypnotized  person  against  the  interference  of  a  strange  per- 
son. Blind  automatic  obedience  of  the  hypnotized  is  never 
complete ;  suggestion  always  has  its  limits,  which  are  sometimes 
wider  and  sometimes  narrower,  and  may  vary  considerably  in 
the  same  individual. 

The  hypnotized  person  protects  himself  in  two  ways:  con- 


RESISTANCE  101 

sciously  by  means  of  his  reasoning  logic,  and  unconsciously  by 
autosuggestion.  I  lift  the  arm  of  a  hypnotized  and  say  that 
it  is  stiff.  He  struggles  to  bring  it  down,  straining  vigorously, 
and  ultimately  succeeds.  Still,  the  feeling  of  the  exertion  which 
he  had  been  put  to  brings  him  all  the  more  surely  into  my  hand^, 
since  it  shows  him  my  superior  power.  A  little  trick  suffices 
to  force  him.  I  say  for  the  second  time,  "  I  lift  your  arm  into 
the  air  with  force,  with  magnetism."  This  is  enough  to  pre- 
vent it  from  falling  again.  I  hold  my  hand  near  his,  without 
touching  it,  and  compel  him  to  lift  it  above  his  head  by  means 
of  the  power  of  his  suggestibility. 

However,  the  resistance  was  present.  If  this  is  not  rapidly 
conquered,  the  hypnotized  believes  in  his  power  of  resistance, 
and  can  oppose  a  number  of  suggestions.  Some  people  can  lose 
their  suggestibility  entirely  by  energetic  considerations  of 
reason  and  exertion  of  will.  This  takes  place  more  often  in 
response  to  the  talking  over  of  other  people,  and  still  more 
often  if  the  hypnotized  loses  his  respect,  trust,  or  affection  for 
the  hypnotist,  from  some  cause  or  other.  Disturbances  of  mood 
and  fear  play  a  great  part  in  this;  they  can  partly  or  wholly 
destroy  the  suggestibility,  either  temporarily  or  even  perma- 
nently. As  a  rule,  the  hypnotist  retains  what  he  has  already 
gained.  If  he  has  failed  repeatedly  by  his  want  of  skill  in  a 
number  of  suggestions,  it  will  be  extremely  difficult  for  him  to 
gain  the  upper  hand  later.  The  autosuggestion  that  this  or  that 
cannot  be  produced  in  him,  or  that  this  hypnotist  cannot  do  it, 
takes  more  and  more  hold  of  the  hypnotized.  For  example,  I 
touch  a  hypnotized  person's  hand,  and  say  that  I  make  it  insen- 
sible and  dead.  However,  he  still  feels,  and  does  not  believe  me ; 
and  when  I  ask  him,  "  Have  you  felt  anything  ?  "  he  answers, 
"  Yes."  It  is  very  difficult  to  produce  anaesthesia  gradually  in 
such  cases.  This  depends  partly  on  the  sleep  being  not  deep 
enough,  but  not  always.  I  have  produced  anaesthesia  by  simple 
hypotaxis.  For  example,  I  do  not  touch  the  fingers  which  I 
failed  to  render  anaesthetic,  but  cause  the  hypnotized  to  believe 
that  I  do,  and  that  he  does  not  feel  anything.  Then  I  am  able 
in  the  next  hypnosis  to  procure  a  partial  anaesthesia  gradually, 
by  very  light  touching.  It  is  just  the  same  with  amnesia.  If 


102  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

one  does  not  succeed  in  producing  amnesia  in  two  or  three  sit- 
tings, it  will  become  extremely  difficult.  However,  one  may- 
succeed  at  times,  with  the  aid  of  certain  tricks.  For  example, 
one  gives  the  hypnotized  a  drink  of  water,  and  tells  him  that  it 
is  a  sleeping-draught,  which  will  make  him  amnesic,  and  the 
like.  In  short,  as  Bernheim  has  said,  the  hypnotized  is  not  a 
perfect  automaton.  He  frequently  disputes  the  suggestion, 
especially  at  the  beginning,  and  at  times  refuses  it.  I  might 
almost  say  that  the  chief  secret  lies  in  investing  the  suggestion 
with  the  subjective  character  of  a  dream,  of  what  has  been  ex- 
perienced, perceived,  or  acted  before  it  has  been  conceived  by 
the  hypnotized  person.  If  it  is  first  conceived  as  a  simple  per- 
ception, the  suggestion  only  succeeds  with  difficulty,  if  at  all. 
Imitation  is  of  great  value,  and  the  same  may  especially  be  said 
of  the  impression  which  the  hypnotist  produces  on  the  hypno- 
tized by  showing  him  the  results  of  a  case.  Those  experiments 
which  succeed  most  easily  in  the  demonstrated  case,  as  a  rule, 
will  succeed  most  easily  with  the  person  who  watches  the  demon- 
stration. 

The  hypnotized  can  resist  each  suggestion  with  a  little  exer- 
tion during  the  lighter  degrees  of  hypnotic  influence  which 
Liebeault  and  Bernheim  call  somnolence.  He  becomes  some- 
what more  suggestible  if  he  remains  quite  passive. 

It  is  a  fundamental  error  to  believe  that  the  hypnotized  is 
under  the  complete  dependence  of  the  hypnotist.  This  depend- 
ence is  a  very  relative  one,  and  is  encumbered  by  all  sorts  of 
conditions.  It  may  be  destroyed  by  mistrust,  ill-humor,  want 
of  respect,  etc.,  at  one  stroke.  Idiotic  deceptions,  absurdities, 
and  things  which  are  distasteful  to  the  character,  inclinations, 
or  convictions  of  the  hypnotized,  can  only  be  suggested  as  sorts 
of  dreams  in  hypnosis,  or  can  only  be  suggested  posthypnoti- 
cally  for  a  short  time.  They  will  then  be  refused  later  by  the 
recollected  and  reconcentrated  or  again  well-associated  waking 
activity  of  the  brain  of  the  person  who  has  been  hypnotized. 
If  one  plays  too  much  with  such  things,  one  risks  losing  the 
whole  of  one's  influence.  Suggestion  means  a  sort  of  tourna- 
ment between  the  dynamisms  of  two  brains ;  the  one  gains  the 
mastery  over  the  other  up  to  a  certain  point,  but  only  under 


AUTOSUGGESTION  103 

the  condition  that  it  deals  skillfully  and  delicately  with  the 
other,  that  it  stimulates  and  uses  its  inclinations  skillfully,  and 
above  all  things,  that  it  does  not  make  its  dealings  go  against 
the  grain. 

Trust  and  belief  on  the  part  of  the  hypnotized  are  funda- 
mental conditions  for  success.  One  can  see  clearly  here  how  so- 
called  freewill  is  a  slave  to  the  affections  of  mood — i.e.,  how 
the  direction  of  will  is  guided  by  feelings  more  than  by  any- 
thing else.  One  influences  the  will  in  a  positive  sense  by  sym- 
pathy, and  in  the  reverse  sense  by  antipathy.  Those  resolu- 
tions which  are  governed  by  reason  alone  take  place,  as  a  rule, 
only  when  sentimentality  is  present  in  minimal  traces  or  is 
absent  altogether. 

Typical  autosuggestions  are  the  products  of  one's  own  brain, 
and  abound  freely  in  all  healthy  persons.  For  example,  an 
otherwise  healthy  person  is  sleepless,  but  eats  well.  I  hypno- 
tize her,  and  induce  the  sleep.  In  exchange  for  this  the  appe- 
tite disappears.  The  loss  of  appetite  depends  on  autosugges- 
tion. This  example  suffices  to  illustrate  the  whole  series  of 
phenomena.  For  instance,  if  we  can  only  go  to  sleep  in  a  cer- 
tain accustomed  position  every  night  after  we  have  gone  to  bed, 
this  is  due  to  autosuggestion. 

An  educated  and  very  intelligent  lady,  Miss  X.,  once  saw 
me  hypnotizing,  and  was  very  much  interested  in  it.  The 
power  of  her  imagination,  as  well  as  her  comprehension  of 
hypnosis,  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following:  She  awoke 
during  the  night  at  a  later  date  with  severe  toothache.  She 
then  attempted  to  suggest  the  pain  away  herself  by  imitating 
my  voice,  the  monotonous  tone,  and  the  contents  of  my  sugges- 
tions, aloud.  She  succeeded  perfectly  in  driving  the  toothache 
away,  and  in  going  to  sleep.  Next  morning,  when  she 
awakened,  the  pain  was  still  absent. 

The  same  lady  told  me  that  her  friends  possessed  a  remedy 
among  themselves  to  procrastinate  menstruation  at  will  should 
this  threaten  to  appear  on  the  evening  before  a  dance.  They 
simply  twisted  a  thin  red  thread  around  the  little  finger  of  the 
left  hand  rather  tightly.  This  did  not  act  equally  well  in  all 
cases,  but  it  acted  with  absolute  certainty  in  some  of  them,  who 


104  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

menstruated  very  regularly,  and  could  delay  the  menses  for  any 
time  up  to  three  days.  This  lady  is  absolutely  trustworthy, 
and  the  case  is  a  striking  example  of  unconscious  suggestion. 
This  became  clear  to  her  after  she  had  seen  me  operate. 

The  mechanism  of  autosuggestion  is  perhaps  best  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  the  influencing  of  the  hypnotist  can  never  be 
perfectly  in  correspondence  with  the  reaction  which  he  pro- 
duces in  the  hypnotized.  Our  speech  is  well  known  to  be  only  a 
symbol  of  ideas.  For  example,  if  one  speaks  before  a  meeting, 
every  one  of  the  audience  understands  according  to  the  kind  of 
his  ideas.  This  means  that  the  perceptions,  the  reactions  of 
mood,  impulses  of  will,  etc.,  which  are  awakened  by  the  speech 
in  every  brain  are  the  results  of  the  words  listened  to  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  the  individual  brain  activity  (brain  mechan- 
ism) of  each  of  the  listeners  on  the  other.  Each  one  adapts 
the  contents  of  the  speech  to  his  inherited  and  individually 
acquired  mneme,  or  associates  it  with  the  same,  according  to 
his  particular  peculiarities.  There  are  many  agreements  which 
ensue  from  the  unity  of  the  first  components,  but  also  many 
disagreements  which  are  derived  from  the  inequality  of  the  parts 
of  the  second  group  of  components.  One  person  laughs  where 
another  cries;  one  assents  where  the  other  protests  energetic- 
ally. There  are  large  numbers  of  partial  agreements,  and  inter- 
pretations between  agreement  and  disagreement,  according  to 
the  kind  and  degree  of  education,  the  temperament,  the  inclina- 
tions, and  the  experience  of  each  listener,  and  above  all  to  the 
way  in  which  he  has  been  influenced  in  the  past.  These  vari- 
ations of  the  reactions  are  only  illuminated  by  the  super- 
consciousness  in  part ;  many,  and  perhaps  the  greater  number, 
are  of  intuitive  nature — i.e.,  they  are  caused  by  brain  reactions 
which  are  not  superconceived  by  us.  From  these  facts  it  be- 
comes clear  that  the  action  of  suggestion  always  must  contain 
elements  which  were  not  included  in  the  suggestion  of  the 
hypnotist,  and  must  always  lack  some  things  which  the  hypno- 
tist had  intended.  In  other  words,  every  suggestion  is  com- 
plemented and  modified  by  autosuggestion  on  the  part  of  the 
hypnotized.  But,  besides  this,  the  unavoidable  incompleteness 
of  every  suggestion  necessarily  requires  autosuggestive  comple- 


AUTOSUGGESTION  105 

mentation.  When  I  suggest  the  vision  of  a  cat,  one  person 
sees  it  as  a  tabby,  and  another  as  a  white  cat;  one  person  sees 
a  small  cat,  another  sees  a  large  one,  etc.  When  I  suggest 
a  narrow-minded  person  to  a  Socialist,  he  sees  him  with  all 
sorts  of  dreadful  qualities,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  hypno- 
tized narrow-minded  person  associates  the  same  kind  of  thing 
with  a  suggested  Socialist,  and  the  like.  One  can  see  from 
this  that  a  psychological  observation  of  the  hypnotized  person 
is  very  necessary,  and  that  suggestions  must  be  quite  different 
if  one,  for  example,  wishes  to  produce  the  approximately  same 
result  in  a  peasant,  an  educated  lady,  and  a  scientist. 

One  can  possess  autosuggestions,  especially  in  the  direction 
of  idiosyncrasies,  and  yet  be  absolutely  incapable  of  guarding 
one's  self  consciously  against  them.  For  example,  one  may 
instance  the  dislike  for  certain  foods,  or  the  occurrence  of  diar- 
rhoea after  taking  certain  substances  (milk,  coffee,1  etc.).  Con- 
versely, the  suggestion  of  another  person  is  generally  capable 
of  counteracting  these  special  central  associations. 

"  Autosuggestion  is  the  ordinary  unconceived  production  of 
effects  on  the  central  nervous  system,  which  are  identical  with 
or  extremely  similar  to  the  effects  of  other  persons'  suggestions. 
This  applies  equally  whether  it  is  caused  by  perceptions,  or  by 
conceptions,  or  by  feelings,  which  do  not,  however,  arise  from 
the  intentional  influence  of  another  person."  I  do  not  know 
how  to  give  a  better  definition  for  this,  and  must  emphasize 
that  the  idea  of  autosuggestion  actually  only  deserves  a  sepa- 
rate existence  if  taken  as  the  antithesis  of  suggestion,  and 
otherwise  is  merged  with  the  idea  of  the  so-called  psychical 
reflexes,  automatisms  of  the  brain,  and  hypoconceived  dyna- 

1  In  my  younger  days  I  used  to  suffer  from  diarrhoea  on  drinking  cafe  au 
lait,  but  not  black  coffee.  This  lasted  for  many  years,  but  the  action  ceased 
later  on.  In  1879-1881,  when  I  took  black  coffee  most  evenings,  I  began  to 
have  diarrhoea  after  drinking  it.  I  ascribed  it  to  the  coffee,  and  since  then 
it  has  become  quite  impossible  for  me  to  take  black  coffee  without  getting 
diarrhoea  at  once,  notwithstanding  that  since  1888  I  have  been  absolutely 
convinced  that  it  only  depends  on  autosuggestion.  The  most  absurd,  and 
at  the  same  time  most  convincing,  part  of  this  is  that  in  1889,  when  I  was  in 
Tunis,  I  was  able  to  enjoy  the  Arabic  coffee  without  getting  diarrhoea.  How- 
ever, it  must  be  mentioned  that  it  was  prepared  in  quite  another  way.  At 
the  present  time  only  coffee  which  is  prepared  in  the  European  fashion  causes 
diarrhoea,  but  the  action  is  now  weaker  than  it  was  formerly.  The  contra- 
dictions of  these  actions  are  in  themselves  the  best  proof  of  their  suggestive 
origin. 


106  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

misms  of  the  t  brain.  The  fact  that  peripheral  nerve  activities 
are  often  brought  about  by  this  does  not  alter  the  fundamental 
principle  that  their  production  is  derived  from  an  activity  of 
the  cerebrum  (perception  and  the  like). 

Oscar  Vogt's  regular  investigations  of  the  subjective  symp- 
toms in  his  hypnotized  subjects  during  hypnosis  have  demon- 
strated most  clearly  to  him  that  the  subjective — i.e.,  autosug- 
gestive — reception,  supplementation,  and  realization  of  the 
suggestions,  and  also  those  autosuggestions  which  are  associated 
with  the  suggestions,  but  which  lack  all  close  logical  connection 
with  the  same,  are  mostly  of  an  unconceived  or  insufficiently 
conceived  nature.  This  means  their  perception  is  void  of  a 
definite  aim.  He  goes  on  to  say  that  they  thus  lack  the  essen- 
tial causes  of  suggestions.  The  same  applies  to  hysterical  auto- 
suggestions. 

Suppose  that  Vogt's  suggestion  that  a  person  does  not  see 
him  leads  to  the  autosuggestion  of  blindness,  the  investigation 
of  the  somnambulistic  condition  in  this  case  shows  very  clearly 
that  the  conception  of  being  blind  was  first  called  into  life  by 
self-observation — i.e.,  by  the  becoming  conscious  of  the  uncon- 
ceived autosuggestion. 

7.  POSTHYPNOTIC  PHENOMENA. — The  posthypnotic  influ- 
ences of  suggestion  belong  to  the  most  important  phenomena 
of  hypnotism.  Everything  which  is  produced  in  hypnosis  itself 
can  very  frequently  be  called  forth  also  in  the  waking  condition 
by  giving  the  suggestion  to  the  hypnotized  person  during  hyp- 
nosis that  it  will  take  place  after  he  has  awakened.  Not  every 
hypnotized  person  is  posthypnotically  suggestible.  However, 
with  a  little  practice  and  perseverance,  one  can  achieve  post- 
hypnotic  effects  in  nearly  all  sleepers,  and  even  in  many  cases 
of  simple  hypotaxis  without  amnesia. 

Examples. — I  say  to  a  hypnotized :  "  When  you  awaken,  you 
will  get  the  idea  of  placing  that  chair  on  the  table,  and  will 
then  tap  me  on  the  left  shoulder  with  your  right  hand."  After 
having  told  him  other  things,  I  say :  "  Count  up  to  six,  and  you 
will  awaken."  He  counts,  and  when  he  reaches  six  he  opens 
his  eyes.  For  a  moment  he  looks  sleepily  in  front  of  him,  then 
regards  the  chair  and  fixes  it  with  his  eyes.  There  is  frequently 


POSTHYPNOTIC   PHENOMENA  107 

a  struggle  between  reason  and  the  powerful  impulse  of  the 
suggestion.  According  to  whether  the  suggestion  is  unnatural 
or  natural,  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  suggestibility  of  the 
subject  on  the  other,  the  victory  is  gained  either  by  the  former 
(reason)  or  by  the  latter  (the  suggestion).  But  I  have  repeat- 
edly observed,  just  as  other  experimenters  have  also  done,  that 
the  attempt  to  resist  the  impulse  of  the  suggestion  may  have  bad 
effects  when  there  is  marked  suggestibility.  The  hypnotized 
becomes  anxious  and  excited,  and  is  tortured  by  the  thought 
that  "  he  must  do  this  thing."  In  two  cases  the  hypnotized 
was  ready  even  to  undertake  a  walk  of  three  miles.  On  one 
occasion  it  was  to  tap  me  on  the  shoulder,  and  on  another  it 
was  to  hand  Miss  Y.  a  towel.  This  impulse  may  last  for  hours 
or  days.  At  other  times  it  is  weak,  and  may  even  be  only  a 
thought,  like  the  remembrance  of  a  dream,  which  does  not  impel 
one  to  action,  and  thus  the  suggestion  is  not  carried  out.  The 
hypnotized  person  only  looks  at  the  object,  or  may  not  even  do 
that.  Still,  one  can  produce  the  impulse,  and  eventually  have 
it  carried  out,  if  one  repeats  the  suggestion  in  such  cases  during 
hypnosis  energetically.  Our  hypnotized  has  regarded  the  chair 
steadily ;  suddenly  he  gets  up,  takes  the  chair,  and  places  it  on 
the  table.  I  say :  "  Why  do  you  do  that  ?  "  His  answer  may 
vary  according  to  his  temperament,  education,  and  character, 
and  the  quality  of  the  hypnosis.  One  person  may  say :  "  I 
believe  that  you  have  told  me  to  do  it  during  my  sleep."  The 
second  may  say :  "  I  believe  that  I  dreamed  something  about 
it."  The  third  acknowledges  in  astonishment:  "I  was  simply 
forced  to  do  it ;  I  don't  know  why."  A  fourth  says :  "  I  got 
the  idea  that  I  ought  to  do  it."  Another  may  give  a  reasoning 
motive  that  he  found  the  chair  in  his  way,  and  that  it  annoyed 
him.  In  the  same  way,  if  the  latter  has  been  told  in  the  sug- 
gestion that  he  would  fetch  a  towel  and  dry  his  face,  he  would 
say  that  he  was  sweating  profusely.  Lastly,  the  sixth  has  lost 
all  remembrance  of  it  as  soon  as  he  has  carried  it  out.  He  be- 
lieves that  he  had  just  awakened.  It  is  especially  in  the  last- 
named  case  that  the  action  acquires  the  appearance  of  somnam- 
bulism. His  gaze  is  more  or  less  fixed,  and  his  movements  have 
a  certain  automatic  character,  which,  however,  is  lost  after  he 


108  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

has  carried  out  the  action.  If  one  does  not  make  the  experi- 
ment ridiculous,  and  if  it  is  carried  out  for  the  first  time  with 
the  subject;  if  he  does  not  know  anything  about  hypnotism, 
and  was  rendered  fully  amnesic  during  the  period  of  the  hypno- 
sis, he  will  not  guess  that  the  hypnotist  was  the  sinner,  the 
instigator  of  his  actions.  At  least,  this  is  so  according  to  my 
belief  and  my  experience.  Some  people,  however,  suspect  the 
hypnotist,  either  because  of  the  dreamlike  remembrance  of  the 
suggestion  during  the  hypnosis,  or  because  the  same  experiment 
has  been  carried  out  with  the  same  subject  before;  or  because 
they  have  seen  it  carried  out  in  others,  or  have  heard  or  read 
about  such  an  experiment;  or  because  the  whole  thing  was  too 
idiotic,  too  nonsensical  or  unnatural,  for  them  to  have  origi- 
nated it  spontaneously. 

I  have  said  to  another  hypnotized  person :  "  When  you  awake 
you  will  see  me  entirely  dressed  in  scarlet,  and  with  two  horns 
of  a  chamois  buck  on  my  head.  Apart  from  this,  my  wife,  who 
is  sitting  next  to  me,  will  have  disappeared,  and  the  door  of  the 
room,  too,  will  be  gone,  and  will  be  replaced  completely  by  wall- 
paper and  paneling,  so  that  you  will  be  compelled  to  leave  the 
room  by  the  other  door."  I  then  speak  of  other  things,  and 
tell  the  hypnotized  person  by  suggestion  to  yawn  three  times 
and  to  awaken.  He  opens  his  eyes,  rubs  them  several  times, 
as  if  he  is  trying  to  remove  a  haziness,  looks  at  me,  begins  to 
laugh,  and  rubs  his  eyes  again.  "  Why  are  you  laughing  ?  " 
"  You  are  quite  red,  and  have  two  chamois  horns  on  your 
head,"  and  so  on.  "  Your  wife  has  gone."  "  Where  was  she 
sitting  ?  "  "  On  that  chair."  "  Do  you  see  the  chair  ?  " 
"  Yes."  I  ask  him  to  feel  the  chair.  He  does  this  unwillingly, 
feels  all  around  my  wjfe,  and  believes  that  he  is  touching  either 
the  chair  or  an  invisible  resistance,  according  to  the  way  in 
which  he  has  complemented  the  suggestion  by  autosuggestion. 
He  then  wants  to  go,  but  cannot.  He  only  sees  wallpaper  and 
panels,  and  states  this  while  he  is  touching  the  door.  If  I 
should  now  open  the  door,  the  hallucination  may  either  disap- 
pear or  continue,  in  which  latter  case  he  sees  the  space  filled 
with  wallpaper  and  panels,  but  does  not  see  the  open  door. 
Such  posthypnotic  hallucinations  can  last  for  a  few  seconds 


POSTHYPNOTIC    SUGGESTION  109 

or  hours,  or  in  rare  cases  even  for  days,  according  to  the  sug- 
gestion and  to  the  subject.  As  a  rule,  they  only  last  a  few 
minutes.  I  have  attempted  to  have  drawings  made  on  white 
paper  of  that  which  I  have  suggested  to  the  hypnotized.  The 
drawings  mostly  turned  out  badly.  The  people  stated  that 
they  could  not  see  the  outlines  distinctly.  However,  some  were 
not  so  bad.  A  very  reliable  and  educated  lady,  who  is  related 
to  me,  drew  the  outlines  of  her  suggested  photograph  quite  well. 
However,  she  could  draw  very  well,  and  the  whole  subject 
depends  largely  on  this.  People  who  cannot  draw  obviously 
hallucinate  incorrectly,  as  they  have  never  learned  to  conceive 
and  also  to  perceive  quite  correctly.  Bernheim  tells  of  a  lady 
who  could  not  say  whether  a  suggested  rose  was  real  or  sug- 
gested. I  have  often  made  the  following  experiment:  I  have 
said  to  Miss  Z.,  during  hypnosis  that  she  would  find  two  violets 
on  her  lap,  both  of  which  should  be  natural  and  pretty,  when 
she  awakened;  she  would  give  me  the  prettier  one  of  the  two. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  I  laid  one  real  violet  on  her  lap. 
On  awakening,  she  saw  two  violets;  the  one  was  paler  and 
prettier,  she  told  me,  and  gave  me  the  corner  of  her  white 
handkerchief,  while  she  kept  the  real  violet  for  herself.  I 
asked  her  if  she  thought  that  both  violets  were  real,  or  if  one  of 
my  evanescent  presents,  of  which  she  had  previous  experience, 
were  among  them.  She  said  that  the  paler  violet  was  not  real, 
as  it  looked  so  flattened  on  her  handkerchief.  I  repeated  the 
experiment,  with  the  suggestion  of  three  real,  equal-colored,  not 
flattened  violets,  which  were  to  be  possessed  of  stalk  and  leaves, 
and  which  should  be  palpable  and  sweet-smelling.  This  time 
I  only  gave  her  one  real  violet.  She  was  completely  deceived, 
and  could  not  tell  me  whether  one  of  the  three,  or  two,  or  even 
all  three,  were  real  or  suggested.  She  thought  that  all  three 
were  real  this  time.  At  the  same  time,  she  held  up  one  hand 
with  nothing  in  it,  and  the  other  hand  with  the  real  violet  in  it. 
One  can  thus  see  that  if  one  suggests  the  deception  for  all  the 
senses  it  will  be  more  complete.  I  have  given  another  hypno- 
tized a  real  knife,  and  told  her  that  there  were  three.  She 
was  fully  awake  at  the  time,  and  could  not  distinguish  the 
supposed  three  knives  from  one  another,  either  when  she  cut 


110  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

with  them,  or  when  she  felt  them  or  knocked  them  against  the 
window,  etc.  She  cut  a  piece  of  paper  stretched  out  for  her 
quite  seriously,  with  nothing  in  her  hand,  and  stated  that  she 
saw  the  cut,  which  did  not  exist,  which  she  had  made  with 
the  suggested  knife.  On  asking  her  to  pull  the  two  parts  of  the 
paper  (imagined  only  as  two)  asunder,  she  believed  that  the 
resistance  which  she  felt  was  caused  by  my  hypnotic  influence. 
Later,  when  other  people  laughed  at  her,  she  got  quite  angry, 
and  maintained  that  there  were  three  knives,  only  I  had  secreted 
two  of  them  later  on.  She  had  seen  all  three,  had  felt  them,  and 
heard  them,  and  would  not  be  convinced  about  the  whole  inci- 
dent. On  suggesting  to  the  same  person  the  disappearance  of 
a  real  knife,  she  did  not  feel  it  when  it  lay  in  her  hand,  did  not 
hear  it  drop,  and  did  not  feel  anything  when  I  pricked  her 
with  it,  etc. 

Feelings,  thoughts,  resolutions,  etc.,  can  be  just  as  well  sug- 
gested posthypnotically  as  hypnotically.  The  results  obtained 
with  the  alcoholic  woman  mentioned  in  a  preceding  page  and 
with  the  menstruation  of  women  were  posthypnotic.  On  two 
occasions  only  I  was  able  to  produce  or  to  control  the  menstru- 
ation at  once  during  the  hypnosis  itself. 

8.  AMNESIA,  OR  Loss  OF  MEMORY. — It  is  necessary  in  this 
place  to  warn  once  more  most  emphatically  against  the  time- 
honored  confusing  of  this  conception  with  that  of  unconscious- 
ness. That  we  do  not  have  any  recollection  of  a  certain  epoch 
of  our  lives  or  certain  things  which  we  have  experienced  does 
not  prove  in  the  least  that  we  were  unconscious  of  them  at  the 
time.  This  holds  good  even  if  the  amnesia  dates  back  as  far 
as  the  occurrence.  But,  still,  we  have,  as  a  rule,  no  other  proof 
that  a  person  was  unconscious  than  his  amnesia  can  give.  One 
almost  admits,  thus,  that  it  is  impossible  to  prove  absolute 
unconsciousness.  One  can  only  speak  of  a  veiling  of  the  con- 
sciousness, which  is  based  on  chaotic  dissociation.  As  a  rule, 
a  person  during  the  period  of  a  deep  veiling  of  the  conscious- 
ness is  amnesic,  but  not  always.  And,  conversely,  one  can 
render  some  people  at  will  amnesic  of  perfectly  clear  conceived 
experiences  and  periods  of  life  by  means  of  suggestion. 
Amnesia  of  a  certain  period  of  time  does  not  necessarily  in- 


AMNESIA  111 

elude  irresponsibility  during  this  period,  although  it  is  the 
rule,  apart  from  suggestion. 

Our  conclusion  as  to  the  unconsciousness  even  in  cases  of 
deep  sleep  and  of  coma,  in  which,  for  example,  a  patient  suffer- 
ing from  some  brain  disturbance  does  not  show  any  reaction 
even  when  the  cornea  is  touched,  is  only  an  indirect  one.  We 
usually  attempt  to  verify  our  conclusion  by  making  out  that 
amnesia  existed.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  direct  inspection 
into  the  consciousness  of  other  people. 

When  one  succeeds  in  producing  amnesia  for  the  time  of  the 
hypnosis  in  a  person  by  suggestion,  one  has  gained  a  consider- 
able power,  for  one  can  thus  interrupt,  inhibit,  or  reestablish 
his  superconscious  Unkings  at  will,  and  can  produce  contrast 
actions,  which  are  of  the  greatest  value  for  the  results  of  later 
suggestions.  One  can  especially  cause  him  to  forget  everything 
which  could  offer  him  opportunity  to  ponder  over  and  to  destroy 
the  action  of  the  suggestion,  and  cause  him  only  to  remember 
those  things  which  assist  the  action  of  the  suggestion.  It  is 
true  that  at  times  amnesia  is  lost,  and  the  remembrance  returns 
spontaneously.  But  this  occurs  only  in  incomplete  cases.  By 
means  of  suggestion,  one  is  able,  not  only  to  limit  the  amnesia 
to  the  single  perceptions  and  conceptions,  but  one  can  extend 
it  and  allow  it  to  embrace  past  and  future  time.  However, 
the  suggestibility,  which  is  increased  by  amnesia,  has  this  disad- 
vantage— that  very  highly  suggestible  persons,  as  we  have  seen, 
are  very  easily  subjected  to  any  influence,  so  that  the  quickly 
achieved  therapeutic  results  are  very  rapidly  destroyed  by  dele- 
terious contrary  influences,  and  thus  recurrences  are  produced. 

Amnesia,  therefore,  plays  a  very  important  part  in  hypnosis. 
I  will  illustrate  its  importance  by  a  single  example :  I  attempted 
to  produce  anaesthesia  by  suggestion  in  an  attendant  who  had 
toothache.  I  only  partly  succeeded.  The  extraction  of  the 
tooth  was  nevertheless  carried  out.  He  awakened,  cried  out, 
seized  the  hand  of  the  medical  officer,  and  hindered  him.  I 
quietly  went  on  suggesting,  after  the  tooth  was  taken  out,  that 
he  would  sleep  well,  had  not  felt  anything  at  all,  would  forget 
all  when  he  awoke,  and  that  he  had  not  had  any  pain.  He 
actually  wrent  quietly  to  sleep,  and  was  completely  amnesic 


112  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

when  he  awoke.  He  imagined,  therefore,  that  he  had  not  felt 
anything,  and  was  very  grateful  and  glad  about  the  painless 
extraction.  Later  on  I  made  inquiries  of  him  through  third 
persons,  toward  whom  he  would  have  had  absolutely  no  reason 
whatsoever  to  conceal  the  truth.  He  told  everybody  that  he 
had  not  felt  anything,  and  for  thirteen  years  after  he  had  left 
the  asylum,  and  had  an  engagement  in  the  town  of  Zurich,  he 
adhered  to  this  statement.  In  contradistinction  to  this  case,  I 
have  allowed  teeth  to  be  drawn  from  persons  who  were  quite 
awake,  and  who  had  been  rendered  perfectly  anaesthetic  by 
suggestion.  These  persons,  who  were  otherwise  cowards  as  far 
as  pain  was  concerned,  laughed  during  the  extraction,  and  did 
not  feel  anything.  It  was  only  the  becoming  conscious  of  the 
impression  of  the  memory  of  the  pain  which  was  limited  or 
inhibited  in  the  first  case,  while  in  the  second  case  it  was  the 
becoming  conscious  of  the  peripheral  stimulation  itself  during 
the  moment  when  it  took  place. 

A  peculiar  case  takes  up  a  position  between  these  two  cases : 
A  very  capable  nurse  was  very  frightened  of  a  tooth  extraction, 
although  she  was  fairly  suggestible.  Nevertheless,  I  hypno- 
tized her.  But  she  resisted  the  application  of  the  forceps  during 
the  hypnosis.  I  was  able  to  render  the  tooth  anaesthetic,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  she  protected  herself  with  both  hands. 
She  awoke  with  a  slight  cry  when  the  tooth  came  out.  She 
declared  at  once  and  spontaneously  in  astonishment  that  she 
had  felt  nothing  else  than  the  tooth  lying  loose  in  her  mouth. 
She  had  not  had  the  least  pain,  and  not  even  a  trace  of  tender- 
ness after  the  extraction.  But  she  still  remembered  experienc- 
ing much  fear.  In  this  case  the  anaesthesia  had  succeeded, 
but  I  had  not  been  able  to  remove  the  fear. 

The  following  experiments,  which  I  have  carried  out  several 
times  with  two  different  persons,  appear  to  me  to  be  of  special 
importance.  One  of  them  possesses  an  extremely  noble  charac- 
ter from  an  ethical  point  of  view,  and  has  a  high  ideal  of 
veracity.  In  this  way  the  least  degree  of  exaggerating  in  order 
to  please  me  is  excluded  with  absolute  certainty.  I  suggested 
anaesthesia  for  various  parts  of  the  body  when  she  was  fully 
awake.  Then  I  asked  her  to  close  her  eyes,  and  took  sufficient 


SUGGESTED   ANESTHESIA  113 

care  that  she  could  not  see  the  field  of  my  operation  by  peeping 
from  under  her  lids.  I  pricked  the  hypnotized  person  in  three 
or  more  definite  places.  She  assured  me  that  she  felt  nothing, 
and  did  not  know  what  I  was  doing.  I  then  made  her  go  to 
sleep,  and  suggested  a  current  to  her  that  would  bring  back 
the  feeling  in  such  a  way  that  she  would  know  exactly  after 
she  had  awakened  what  I  had  been  doing  with  her.  When  she 
awakened  I  asked  her  what  I  had  done  to  her.  At  first  she 
had  difficulty  in  remembering,  and  then  she  found  the  places 
where  I  had  pricked  her  approximately.  However,  on  repeat- 
ing the  experiment  carefully,  altering  the  number  of  pricks 
and  the  situations,  I  succeeded  better.  She  found  the  places 
exactly,  and  knew  definitely  that  I  had  pricked  her.  It  might 
be  argued  that  the  rough  irritation  of  the  sensory  nerves,  which 
had  lasted  somewhat  longer,  still  persisted,  and  was  perceived 
afterwards  by  the  reassociated  conscious  brain  activity.  In 
order  that  I  might  meet  this  argument,  I  repeated  the  same 
experiment,  only  using  the  sense  of  hearing  instead,  and  made 
the  wide-awake  somnambulist  perfectly  deaf  to  certain  sounds. 
Later  on  I  caused  the  unconceived  acoustic  impression  which 
had  been  deposited  in  the  brain  to  be  conceived  by  means  of 
suggestion.  The  somnambulists  were  able  to  tell  me  exactly 
each  time  what  I  had  been  doing.  I  then  asked  both  of  them 
how  they  could  explain  this,  and  each  of  them  answered,  quite 
independently  of  the  other,  that  they  almost  believed  that  I 
could  use  witchcraft.  They  had  neither  felt  nor  heard  anything 
at  all  when  I  pricked  them  or  made  the  noises,  and  later 
on  they  suddenly  regained  the  full  recollection  of  the  pricks 
and  sounds.  It  was  absolutely  inexplicable  to  them.  Bernheim 
has  carried  out  similar  experiments,  dealing  with  negative 
hallucinations  with  equally  good  results.  It  appears  to  me  that 
this  proves  that  the  usual  reflection  of  our  superconsciousness 
does  not  stand  in  any  definite  relationship  to  the  intensity  and 
quality  of  the  cerebral  activity,  and  that  the  cutting  off  and 
reintroducing  of  the  reflection  of  the  superconsciousness  de- 
pends more  on  associative  inhibitions  and  connections.  At  all 
events,  this  experiment  demonstrates  that  the  remembrance  of 
a  sensation  which  is  obviously  only  effected  in  the  hypocon- 


114  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

sciousness  can  later  on  be  transferred  to  the  chain  of  the  super- 
consciousness,  even  after  a  complete  anaesthesia,  which  is 
controlled  during  waking  consciousness.  This  cannot  be  due 
to  a  suggested  falsification  of  the  memory,  because  the  som- 
nambulists detailed  the  quality  and  kind  of  impressions  quite 
correctly,  although  I  had  naturally  carefully  avoided  giving 
the  least  hint  of  this  in  the  suggestion.  Engrams,  which  are 
apparently  unconsciously  effected,  may  therefore  be  ecphorized 
consciously  by  association  later  on. 

Dr.  O.  Vogt  has  repeated  similar  experiments  for  the  hear- 
ing, sight,  and  feeling.  Simple  touches,  which  were  not  felt, 
have  been  correctly  specified  even  after  many  hours.  Every 
one  of  the  persons  declared  that  they  had  absolutely  no  sensa- 
tion, but  that  they  now  remembered  the  stimuli  quite  distinctly. 
When  asked  how  this  could  be  possible,  they  either  said  that 
they  could  not  understand  it  or  that  Vogt  must  have  suggested 
it  to  them. 

9.  SUGGESTION  AS  TO  TIME  (Suggestion  a  echeance}. — This 
phenomenon,  which  has  been  so  excellently  described  by  the 
Nancy  School,  is  only  a  variety  of  posthypnotic  suggestion, 
albeit  a  variety  of  great  practical  importance. 

I  said  to  a  hypnotized :  "  You  will  suddenly  get  the  idea  that 
you  wish  to  write  to  me  to  tell  me  how  you  are  at  noon  to-mor- 
row as  you  are  going  to  dinner.  You  will  return  to  your  room 
and  quickly  write  to  me;  then  you  will  feel  that  your  feet 
are  cold,  and  put  on  your  slippers."  The  hypnotized  person  did 
not  have  a  suspicion  of  the  whole  thing  after  he  awoke,  and 
during  the  following  day  up  to  mid-day.  Just  as  he  was 
going  to  dinner  the  suggested  thought  made  its  appearance  in 
his  consciousness,  and  the  suggestion  was  completely  carried 
out.  I  said  to  a  hypnotized  person  (a  female)  on  a  certain 
Monday:  "Your  menstruation  will  set  in  at  7: 15  on  Sunday 
morning.  You  will  go  straight  to  the  Sister,  show  her  the 
state  of  affairs,  and  then  come  to  report  matters  to  me.  But 
you  will  see  me  in  a  sky-blue  coat,  with  two  horns  on  my 
head,  and  will  ask  me  when  I  was  born."  On  the  following 
Sunday  I  was  sitting  in  my  study,  and  had  forgotten  all  about 
the  suggestion.  The  hypnotized  girl  knocked  at  my  door  at 


SUGGESTION  AS  TO  TIME  115 

7 :  35,  came  in,  and  burst  out  laughing.  I  was  immediately 
reminded  of  my  suggestion,  and  this  was  fulfilled  down  to  the 
most  minute  detail.  The  period  had  set  in  at  7:  15,  the  Sister 
had  already  been  shown,  and  so  on.  The  hypnotized  up  to  this 
time  never  had  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the  whole  affair  and 
had  not  even  known  while  she  was  awake  when  her  period  was 
to  set  in. 

The  great  importance  of  Termineingebung  (suggestion  as  to 
time)  is  apparent.  One  can  .order  the  thoughts  and  resolu- 
tions of  the  hypnotized  person  in  advance  for  a  certain  time 
when  the  hypnotist  is  no  longer  present.  One  can  further  give 
the  suggestion  of  resolutions  of  a  freewill.  More  than  this, 
one  can  give  the  suggestion  that  the  hypnotized  will  have  no 
suspicion  that  the  impulse  originated  from  the  hypnotist.  One 
can  even  successfully  suggest  complete  amnesia  of  the  hypno- 
tizing with  very  suggestible  persons.  "  You  have  never  been 
hypnotized.  If  any  one  asks  you  about  it,  you  will  swear 
before  God  that  you  have  never  been  put  to  sleep.  I  have 
never  put  you  to  sleep."  In  this,  perhaps,  a  forensic  danger 
of  hypnosis  may  be  found.  Not  less  than  thirteen  of  the  nine- 
teen healthy  nurses  mentioned  in  a  previous  page  who  slept 
deeply  carried  out  Termineingebung.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  this  is  not  a  rare  phenomenon.  I  have  succeeded,  as  has 
already  been  stated,  with  one  of  the  nurses  in  this  during  the 
first  hypnosis. 

The  views  of  the  hypnotized  persons  about  the  source  of 
successful  suggestion  as  to  time  are  highly  remarkable.  If 
one  asks  them  how  it  came  about  that  they  did  this  or  that, 
they  generally  state  that  they  got  an  idea  at  the  time  suggested, 
and  that  they  felt  themselves  forced  to  carry  this  idea  out. 
They  always  tell  the  exact  time  at  which  they  got  the  idea, 
although  one  does  not  usually  look  at  the  clock  at  each  thought 
which  one  gets.  The  fact  that  one  has  suggested  the  time  causes 
them  to  notice  it.  This  must  be  regarded  as  an  accompanying 
action  of  the  suggestion.  In  a  few  cases  the  idea  appears  a  long 
time  before.  The  hypnotized  person  feels  as  if  he  must  do  this 
or  that,  or  think  of  something,  at  a  certain  future  time.  In 
some  cases  the  idea  does  not  come  with  the  subjective  character 


116  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

of  a  spontaneous  thought,  but  as  a  recollection  derived  from 
the  hypnosis  turning  up  suddenly.  In  such  a  case  the  hypno- 
tized says,  for  example :  "  I  remembered  suddenly  at  twelve 
o'clock  that  you  said  to  me  yesterday  while  I  was  asleep  that 
I  should  come  to  you  at  mid-day  to-day."  As  a  rule,  the  sug- 
gestion as  to  time,  when  it  takes  place,  has  the  character  of 
compulsion,  or  of  irresistible  impulse  until  it  is  performed. 
However,  the  intensity  of  the  impulse  varies  considerably.  It 
is  because  of  this  character  that  habitual  somnambulists  usually 
recognize  that  they  are  suggestions,  and  not  their  own  ideas 
or  resolutions  of  will.  But  it  is  mostly  quite  simple  to  deceive 
them  if  one  suggests  beforehand  that  the  character  of  the  un- 
natural compulsion  shall  be  absent.  One  substitutes  for  this, 
spontaneous  resolution  of  the  freewill,  and  links  the  suggested 
thought  skillfully  and  logically  on  to  actual  occurrences.  In 
this  way  it  becomes  easy  to  deceive  the  somnambulists,  so  that 
they  are  convinced  that  they  have  acted  in  response  to  their 
free,  uninfluenced  will. 

The  most  extraordinary  part  of  the  whole  thing  is  that  the 
contents  of  the  suggestion  is  scarcely  ever  conceived  dur- 
ing the  waking  condition  from  the  time  of  the  hypnosis  to  the 
time  of  taking  place.  But  if  one  hypnotizes  the  person  during 
this  interval,  and  asks  him  during  the  hypnosis  what  he  has 
to  do  at  the  named  time,  he  generally  knows  it  exactly.  Bern- 
heim  concludes  from  this  that  the  hypnotized  thinks  about  it 
during  the  whole  time,  only  he  does  not  know  about  it.  I  do 
not  believe  that  Bernheim  is  right.  In  my  opinion,  one  should 
not  express  one's  self  in  this  way,  because  it  disturbs  psycho- 
logical ideas.  One  is  dealing  with  thinking  or  knowing  in  the 
sphere  of  the  subconsciousness — i.e.,  with  a  brain  dynamism 
remaining  in  the  form  of  an  engram  behind  the  threshold  of 
the  usual  consciousness,  which  will  be  repeated  by  means  of  a 
time  signal  associated  with  it  and  with  the  determined  time. 
It  is  only  in  this  way  that  one  can  explain  especially  the  sug- 
gestions as  to  time  which  Liebault,  Bernheim,  and  Liegeois 
achieved  even  after  the  course  of  a  year.  The  feeling  of  time 
without  any  special  time  signal  suffices  to  produce  the  sugges- 
tion at  the  correct  time  for  short  suggestions  as  to  time.  A 


WAKING  SUGGESTIONS  117 

proof  of  the  importance  of  the  time  signal  is  that  the  menstru- 
ation can  be  much  more  surely  and  easily  regulated  suggestively 
for  a  certain  day  of  the  month — e.g.,  the  first — than  for  every 
four  weeks.  This  is  so  because  it  is  easier  to  note  a  definite 
day  of  the  month — e.g.,  the  first  or  the  fifteenth — than  a  vary- 
ing day  of  the  month,  with  a  four  weeks'  interval. 

The  phenomena  of  suggestions  as  to  time  are  otherwise  iden- 
tical with  those  of  other  posthypnotic  suggestions. 

10.  WAKING  SUGGESTIONS. — One  can  apply  suggestion  suc- 
cessfully in  very  susceptible  persons  while  they  are  wide  awake, 
without  having  recourse  to  hypnotic  sleep.  All  the  phenomena 
of  hypnosis  or  of  posthypnotic  suggestion  can  thus  be  produced. 
One  may  lift  an  arm  and  say :  "  You  cannot  move  it  now."  The 
arm  remains  in  the  condition  of  cataleptic  rigidity.  One  can 
suggest  anaesthesia,  hallucinations  (including  negative  halluci- 
nations), amnesia,  mutacisms,  deceptions  of  memory,  and  any- 
thing else  one  pleases,  in  this  way,  just  as  surely  as  one  can  do 
it  in  hypnosis.  The  waking  suggestion  can  very  frequently 
be  achieved  even  in  perfectly  healthy  persons,  and  not  only 
in  the  hysterical. 

Waking  suggestibility  is  mostly  gained  first  in  people  who 
have  been  put  to  sleep  hypnotically  one  or  more  times  previ- 
ously. Still,  it  is  possible  to  achieve  marked  suggestive  actions 
even  in  "  awake "  persons  who  have  never  been  hypnotized 
before.  A  "  magnetizer "  succeeded  in  fixing  the  arm  of  a 
very  intelligent,  strong-minded  lady  of  my  acquaintance  cata- 
leptically  by  means  of  suggestion  during  the  time  when  she  was 
wide  awake ;  she  had  never  had  any  previous  acquaintance  with 
hypnotism.  I  succeeded  in  doing  this  with  two  women,  who 
were  certainly  not  hysterical,  out  of  four  on  whom  I  tried  it. 
It  is  much  easier  than  one  imagines  to  obtain  suggestive  results 
during  the  waking  condition,  without  allowing  the  influenced 
person  to  have  a  suspicion  of  it,  and  this  takes  place  more 
frequently  than  one  supposes.  My  colleague,  Dr.  Earth,  of 
Basle,  has  repeatedly  been  able  to  produce  complete  anaesthesia 
for  minor  operations  on  the  fauces  and  elsewhere  by  painting 
the  place  with  a  solution  of  common  salt,  and  telling  the  patient 
that  it  is  cocaine,  and  that  the  mucous  membrane  is  perfectly 


118  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

insensitive.  Many  others  have  had  similar  experiences.  The 
influence  of  the  red  thread  wound  around  the  little  finger  on 
menstruation,  mentioned  in  a  preceding  page,  belongs  to  this 
category. 

One  can  obtain  waking  suggestibility  in  cases  where  it  does 
not  exist  by  giving  the  suggestion  of  this  waking  suggestion 
during  hypnotic  sleep.  It  will  then  be  self-suggested.  I  am 
firmly  convinced  that  one  only  needs  a  certain  amount  of 
practice  and  boldness  to  produce  waking  suggestibility  in  a 
large  proportion  of  healthy  persons,  since,  for  example,  I  was 
able  to  do  this  in  the  nineteen  nurses  referred  to  before. 

Among  those  objections  which  are  constantly  being  raised  by 
people  who  do  not  understand  anything  about  the  matter,  the 
following  is  very  typical :  "  Very  well ;  waking  suggestion  may 
be  all  right  and  free  from  danger,  but  it  is  quite  different  from 
hypnosis."  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  reader  will  be  able  to 
see  that  such  assertions  could  not  be  possible  apart  from  a 
complete  misunderstanding  of  suggestion,  and  apart  from  a 
want  of  practical  experience,  after  what  I  have  said  in  the 
foregoing,  and  in  consideration  of  what  I  am  about  to  explain. 
The  phenomena  of  waking  suggestion  are  absolutely  identical 
and  equivalent  to  those  of  suggestion  during  hypnosis.  Whether 
a  little  more  subjective  feeling  of  sleep  is  associated  with  it  or 
not  can  neither  increase  nor  diminish  the  danger  or  the  impor- 
tance of  the  psychological  sequence  of  events.  So  much  is  cer- 
tain. Every  suggestive  result  indicates  a  dissociative  effect, 
and  causes  thereby  a  single  phenomenon,  which  is  homologous 
to  that  of  dream  life.  As  soon  as  multiple  suggestions  follow 
one  another  rapidly  in  waking  condition,  this  waking  condition 
as  a  whole  only  becomes  hypnotic — i.e.,  dreamlike  and  sleep- 
like — thereby.  In  this  way  one  can  compare  every  suggestive 
result  during  waking  with  a  partial  circumscribed  dream  taking 
place  in  an  otherwise  "  awake  "  brain. 

11.  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  MIND  DURING  THE  CARRYING 
OUT  OF  POSTHYPNOTIC  SUGGESTIONS,  "  TfiRMINEINGEBUNGEN," 
AND  WAKING  SUGGESTIONS. — When  one  has  frequently  observed 
these  phenomena,  one  realizes  quite  distinctly  that  the  condition 
of  the  mind  of  the  hypnotized  persons  in  the  three  cases  men- 


CONDITIONS  PRIME   ET  SECONDE  119 

tioned  above  must  be,  and  actually  is,  the  same.  The  mind  is 
awake,  but  is  altered.  One  asks  one's  self:  In  what  way  is  it 
altered  ?  This  question  was  first  put  forward  by  Liegeois,1  and 
later  by  Beaunis2  and  Delboeuf.3  Liegeois  calls  this  condition, 
in  which  the  hypnotized  is  wide  awake  up  to  the  point  which 
has  been  "  forbidden  or  commanded  5>  by  the  hypnotist,  by  the 
term  condition  prime.  This  term  is  meant  to  stand  as  an  ana- 
logue to  condition  seconde.  The  latter  was  used  by  Adam  for 
the  second  condition  of  consciousness  in  his  case  (Felida)  of 
double  consciousness  in  the  waking  condition.  Later  on,  how- 
ever, Liegeois  also  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  condition 
prime  is  only  a  variety  of  the  condition  seconde.  Beaunis  styles 
the  condition  prime  as  veille  somnambulique.  Delboeuf,  on  the 
other  hand,  considers  that  he  has  proved  that  in  all  these  cases 
the  hypnotized  person  has  only  been  hypnotized  again,  and  that 
one  is  dealing  simply  with  ordinary  somnambulism,  only  the 
person  has  his  eyes  open.  The  suggestion  is  supposed  simply 
to  produce  a  new  hypnosis  by  means  of  association  uncon- 
ciously.  Later  on  he,  however,  changed  his  views,  and  came  to 
the  same  conclusion4  which  I  have  arrived  at. 

In  my  opinion,  none  of  these  views  are  tenable,  because  they 
are  all  too  dogmatic  and  too  systematizing.  Delboeuf's  older 
view  certainly  holds  good  for  many  cases.  The  onset  of  the 
realization  of  the  suggestion  may  produce  the  autosuggestion 
of  a  perfect  hypnosis  in  posthypnotic  and  waking  suggestion, 
and  also  in  suggestion  as  to  time.  The  look  becomes  fixed, 
and  the  hypnotized  may  even  become  amnesic  for  all  that  has 
taken  place,  afterwards.  If  one  generalizes  in  these  cases,  one 
deceives  one's  self  just  as  much  as  one  does  if  one  generalizes 
in  those  undoubted  cases  in  which  the  suggestion  has  been 
realized  during  complete  clear  waking  condition.  It  is  possible 
also  by  means  of  suggestion  to  remove  everything  which  is 
hypnotic,  including  the  intended  suggestion,  from  these  condi- 
tions, so  that  the  condition  becomes  absolutely  identical  with 

1  Jules  Liegeois,  "  De  la  suggestion  hypnotique  dans  ses  rapports  avec  le 
droit  civil  et  le  droit  criminel."  (Paris:  A.  Picard,  1884.) 

-  Beaunis,  "  Recherches  experiment  ales  sur  les  condition  de  1'Activite" 
CeVebrale,"  etc.:  " Somnambulisme  provoqueV'  p.  67. 

3  Revue  de  I'hypnotisme,  I  ere  annee,  1887,  p.  166. 

«  Ibid,  1888. 


120  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

the  condition  of  complete  wakefulness.  One  meets  with  all 
stages,  from  the  fixed  look  to  a  perfectly  clear  look;  from  the 
automatism  wanting  in  sound  judgment,  in  which  the  most 
flagrant  nonsense  appears  natural  and  comprehensible  as  it 
does  in  a  dream,  to  the  finest,  sharpest  self-criticism  on  the  part 
of  the  hypnotized,  and  to  the  most  energetic  struggle  against 
the  compulsion  and  impulse  of  the  suggestion.  One  can  even 
limit  the  suggestion  to  such  natural  and  unimportant  details, 
such  as  one  intertwines  constantly  in  the  temporal  linking  of 
thought,  that  there  is  no  longer  any  question  even  of  a  condition 
prime  (Liegeois's  definition).  I  have  observed,  apart  from 
individual  peculiarities,  that  the  conditions  under  discussion 
approach  more  nearly  to  actual  hypnosis  if  one  suggests  a  wide, 
coherent,  and  at  the  same  time  idiotic  complex,  while  it  ap- 
proaches more  nearly  to  the  normal  waking  condition  the  more 
natural,  probable,  limited,  and  curt  the  suggestion  is.  Exam- 
ples will  illustrate  this  clearly. 

I  have  said  to  a  woman  during  complete  wakefulness  that 
she  could  not  move  her  arm;  I  raised  the  arm  at  the  time. 
She  stared  at  me,  attempted  vainly  to  depress  the  arm,  became 
confused,  and  so  on.  I  then  added  the  following  suggestions 
rapidly  one  after  another :  "  Here  comes  a  lion ;  you  see  him  ? 
He  will  eat  us  up.  Now  he  is  going  away.  It  is  getting  dark. 
The  moon  is  shining.  Look  at  the  great  big  river  there  with 
thousands  of  fishes  in  it.  You  are  quite  rigid  all  over;  you 
cannot  move  at  all,"  etc.,  etc.  In  a  few  seconds  all  these  impres- 
sions rush  through  the  consciousness  of  the  woman  in  the  form 
of  perceptions  with  corresponding  sensations.  Her  mental 
condition  approaches  more  and  more  that  of  the  ordinary 
hypnosis ;  she  becomes  like  one  in  a  dream.  One  can  say  with 
Delboeuf  in  this  case  that  "  she  is  hypnotized  again." 

I  have  said  on  another  occasion  to  the  same  hypnotized  nurse : 
"  Every  time  that  the  assistant  medical  officer  comes  into  your 
ward  and  you  report  on  the  condition  of  the  excitable  patient, 
Louisa  C.,  you  will  make  a  mistake  and  call  her  Lina  C.  You 
will  notice  your  mistake,  and  attempt  to  correct  yourself,  but 
will  not  be  able  to  do  so ;  you  will  always  say  Lina  for  Louisa. 
And  each  time  you  call  the  medical  officer  "  Doctor,"  you  will 


EXAMPLES  121 

scratch  your  right  temple  with  your  right  hand  without  being 
aware  of  it."  The  suggestion  was  realized.  The  nurse  made 
the  mistake,  and  said  Lina  C.  instead  of  Louisa  C.  regularly  in 
ordinary  conversation.  It  was  just  like  a  suggested  paraphasia 
of  a  word.  She  noticed  it,  tried  to  correct  herself,  but  made 
the  same  mistake  again,  and  was  astonished  at  it.  Every  time 
that  she  called  the  assistant  medical  officer  "  Doctor "  she 
scratched  herself  exactly  in  the  manner  I  suggested.  It  was 
quite  extraordinary  to  see  how  the  unsuspicious  nurse  repeated 
the  mistake  with  C.'s  name  almost  every  day,  apologized,  and 
was  astonished;  she  could  not  make  out  what  was  the  matter 
with  her ;  such  a  thing  had  never  in  her  whole  life  occurred  to 
her  before.  The  scratching,  on  the  other  hand,  took  place 
quite  instinctively,  without  her  noticing  it.  After  some  weeks 
she  began  gradually  to  assist  herself  out  of  the  difficulty  by 
leaving  out  the  patient's  Christian  name,  and  simply  saying  C. 
A  single  suggestion  sufficed  for  the  disturbance  which  recurred 
for  so  long  a  time.  One  wrould  have  to  assume  that  the  condi- 
tion prime  only  held  good  during  the  speaking  of  the  Christian 
name  and  during  the  scratching,  while  the  rest  of  her  speech 
took  place  in  the  condition  of  normal  wakefulness.  But  dur- 
ing the  time  that  she  is  scratching,  she  speaks  of  things  which 
were  not  suggested,  and  which  are  quite  rational.  In  conse- 
quence, the  condition  prime  existed  only  for  a  portion  of  her 
psychical  activity. 

I  gave  the  suggestion  to  an  educated  young  man  (a  student) 
during  hypnosis  that  he  would  tap  me  on  the  right  shoulder 
with  his  left  hand  when  he  awoke.  He  resisted  the  impulse, 
for  he  was  very  obstinate,  and  would  not  allow  his  freewill  to 
be  interfered  with  at  any  price.  He  went  home.  I  told  him 
to  come  again  in  a  week's  time,  and  when  he  came  he  confessed 
to  me  that  my  suggestion  had  worried  him  the  whole  week — so 
much  so  that  on  one  or  two  occasions  he  was  on  the  point  of 
coming  to  me  (a  distance  of  about  three  miles)  to  tap  me  on 
the  shoulder.  Was  the  whole  week,  during  which  the  young 
man  was  working  as  usual,  listening  to  lectures,  sleeping,  and 
so  on,  a  condition  prime? 

An  intelligent,   very  suggestible  nurse   was   so  powerfully 


122  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

affected  by  suggestions  as  to  time  that  she  told  me  that  she 
was  quite  overpowered  by  them,  and  would  be  compelled  even 
to  commit  murder  if  I  were  to  suggest  it  to  her.  The  impulse 
to  carry  out  even  the  greatest  nonsense  was  fearful.  Her 
repeated  energetic  attempts  to  resist  only  increased  the  impulse 
the  more  violently.  Once  she  was  speaking  to  me  about  hypno- 
tism before  two  other  persons.  She  said:  "  But  it  is  always  the 
same,  doctor ;  I  must  do  everything  that  you  have  suggested  to 
me  during  sleep.  Still,  although  I  never  know  anything  about 
it  before,  I  always  notice  that  it  comes  from  you  when  it  does 
come.  There  is  always  such  a  peculiar  impulse,  like  something 
strange."  I  then  said  to  her:  "Go  to  sleep."  She  went  to 
sleep  at  once.  I  then  said  to  her :  "  After  you  have  been  awake 
for  half  a  minute,  you  will  get  the  idea,  entirely  of  your  own 
account,  to  ask  me  the  following  question :  l  Doctor,  I  have 
l>een  wanting  to  ask  you  for  a  long  time  how  it  is  that  one  goes 
to  sleep  so  rapidly  when  hypnotized.  This  is  not  so  in  ordinary 
sleep;  one  takes  much  longer  to  go  to  sleep.  How  is  it?  It 
is  very  extraordinary.'  You  will  have  no  suspicion  that  I 
have  said  this  to  you  during  your  sleep ;  the  idea  will  originate 
entirely  of  yourself.  You  will  have  been  wishing  to  ask  me 
for  a  long  time  past.  Count  up  to  six,  and  you  will  awake." 
She  counted  to  six,  awakened,  and  assured  me  that  she  had 
slept  well.1  Then,  about  half  a  minute  after,  she  broke  out 
with  the  suggested  sentence,  word  for  word.  Her  inquiring 
tone  manifested  the  highest  interest  in  the  matter.  I  listened 
quietly  to  her,  answered  her  in  detail,  and  then  asked  her  how 
she  came  to  ask  me  this  question.  "  Well,  I  have  been  wanting 
to  ask  it  of  you  for  a  long  time."  "Is  it  not  a  suggestion 
which  I  have  just  given  you  during  your  sleep  ?  "  "  Certainly 
not ;  I  am  not  to  be  deceived ;  this  was  my  own  idea."  "  But 
you  have  deceived  yourself  notwithstanding.  Here  are  two 
witnesses,  who  have  heard  that  I  have  suggested  it  word  for  word 
two  minutes  ago."  The  poor  hypnotized  girl  was  quite  con- 
founded, and  had  to  acknowledge  that  she  could  not  recognize 
every  suggestion  as  such,  but  could  only  recognize  those  which 

1  She  slept  exceedingly  deeply  each  time.    This  was  objectively  unmis- 
takable. 


EXAMPLES  123 

%vere  so  idiotic  that  they  could  not  have  been  the  efforts  of  her 
own  brain. 

A  very  thorough,  intelligent  young  law  student,  who  was 
close  to  his  final  examination,  knew  the  theory  of  suggestion 
well.  I  was  able  to  put  him  to  sleep  deeply,  with  total  amnesia. 
I  once  suggested  to  him  that  he  would  go  to  Dr.  D.,  one  of  our 
colleagues  here,  as  soon  as  he  awoke,  and  ask  him  his  name, 
where  his  home  is,  and  also  if  he  has  had  any  experience  of 
hypnotism.  This  was  accomplished,  but  the  student  added  to 
this :  "  I  seem  to  have  seen  you  before.  Isn't  your  name  X.  ?  " 
As  the  statement  as  to  his  home  did  not  coincide,  he  said  that 
he  must  have  been  mistaken,  and  went  away.  When  he  pre- 
sented himself  to  me  on  the  following  day,  I  asked  him  why  he 
had  questioned  my  colleague  D.  as  he  had  done  after  his  last 
hypnosis.  "  I  thought  that  he  was  an  acquaintance,  but  it 
appears  that  it  is  not  so."  I  asked  whether  he  put  those  ques- 
tions of  his  own  accord  from  his  own  free  will.  The  student 
looked  at  me  in  astonishment,  and  said,  "  Certainly."  I  asked 
whether  it  was  not  one  of  my  suggestions.  "  No.  At  least,  I 
know  nothing  about  it."  He  then  became  rather  angry,  blew 
his  nose,  and  asked  me :  "  Is  it  due  to  suggestion,  too,  that  I 
have  to  blow  my  nose?  "  (This  was  not  so.)  He  assured  me 
that  he  had  not  had  the  faintest  suspicion  that  his  question  to 
Dr.  D.  was  not  due  to  a  natural  desire  of  his  own,  and  was 
very  struck,  and  at  the  same  time  interested,  by  my  explanation. 

I  could  add  many  more  examples,  as  I  have  paid  special 
attention  to  this  subject.  For  example,  the  posthypnotic  hallu- 
cination of  the  lady  that  she  could  not  distinguish  two  suggested 
violets  from  a  natural  one  which  I  have  mentioned  in  a  preced- 
ing page  belongs  to  this  category.  However,  what  has  been 
said  will  suffice  to  show  that  one  can  smuggle  and  intertwine 
a  suggestion  into  the  normal  activity  of  the  waking  normal 
mind  in  such  a  way  that  all  outside  phenomena  of  a  hypnosis- 
like  character  can  be  excluded.  In  these  cases  the  "  hypno- 
tized "  is  completely  deceived,  believes  that  he  is  thinking  or 
acting  spontaneously,  and  does  not  guess  at  the  insinuating 
suggestion  of  the  hypnotist. 

One  cannot   illustrate   Spinoza's   statement  more  strikingly 


124  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

than  by  detailing  these  hypnotic  experiments.  The  statement 
is :  "  The  illusion  of  the  freewill  is  nothing  else  than  the  want 
of  knowledge  of  the  reasons  of  our  resolutions."  We  have  a  real 
visible  demonstration  that  our  subjective  freewill  is  objectively 
produced.  The  only  difference  is  that  it  is  caused  by  sugges- 
tions of  others  in  the  hypnotized,  and  by  feelings,  instincts, 
habits,  autosuggestions,  etc.,  besides  the  plastic  self-adapting 
activity  of  reason,  in  the  not  hypnotized.  This  means  that  it 
is  caused  in  the  latter  case  by  the  combinations  of  engrams 
of  the  inherited  and  individually  acquired  mneme. 

However,  an  interesting  and  common  intermediate  form  be- 
tween actual  hypnosis  and  waking  condition  consists  in  the 
fact  that  the  hypnotized  actually  has  his  eyes  open,  behaves 
just  like  a  normal  person,  and  does  not  forget  anything ;  but  he 
shows  an  unmistakable  fixed  stare,  and  accepts  unnatural, 
meaningless  suggestions  as  natural — i.e.,  he  does  not  wonder  at 
them,  and  carries  them  out  without  questioning  them.  If  one 
asks  him  later  on,  he  not  infrequently  admits  that  he  was  a 
little  giddy  or  dreamy;  he  was  not  absolutely  wide  awake  and 
clear.  This  would  correspond  to  the  veille  somnambulique,  or 
condition  prime.  This  is  the  early  stage  of  contraction  of  the 
consciousness,  the  commencement  of  the  monoidism  of  hypno- 
sis with  report. 

12.  LASTING  RESULTS  OF  SUGGESTION. — Can  one  perma- 
nently alter  the  mind  or  any  nerve  function  by  suggestion,  in 
however  slight  a  degree  ? 

One  has  been  able  to  give  suggestion  as  to  time  for  a  whole 
year's  duration;  one  has  produced  sleep  lasting  for  days  by 
suggestion;  and,  above  all,  one  can  show  a  number  of  lasting 
therapeutic  results.  But  still,  on  the  other  hand,  every  one 
who  has  taken  up  the  question  of  suggestion  must  admit  that 
the  action  of  a  hypnosis  becomes  weakened  of  itself  in  the 
course  of  time.  But  I  have  not  been  able  to  convince  myself 
that  the  hypnotized  person  gradually  ceases  to  be  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  hypnotist  when  the  latter  has  kept  away  for  a 
long  time.  This  used  to  be  stated  as  a  fact.  I  frequently  find, 
on  the  contrary,  that  later,  after  a  long  pause — more  than  half 
or  one  year — the  results  of  hypnosis  are  better  than  if  one 


LASTING   RESULTS  125 

exhausts  one's  self  by  continuously  hypnotizing  a  patient  or 
a  healthy  person. 

The  therapeutic  results  of  hypnosis  appear  to  me  to  give 
the  best  solution  to  our  question  if  one  regards  them  closely. 
I  believe  that  one  can  only  achieve  a  lasting  result  either  (1)  if 
the  attained  chance  possesses  in  itself  the  power  of  insinuating 
itself  in  the  struggle  for  existence  between  the  individual 
dynamisms  of  the  central  nervous  system  by  having  been 
transformed  into  autosuggestion  or  habit  by  means  of  a 
single  or  repeated  suggestion;  or  (2)  if  the  power  which 
is  wanting  in  this  change  is  supplied  to  it  by  outside 
means.  This  latter  can,  however,  be  produced  also  by  sugges- 
tion at  times.  One  must  always  give  the  suggestion  that  the 
result  will  be  permanent.  But  experience  shows  that  this  alone 
rarely  acts  completely  without  the  outside  means  referred  to. 

Examples.  Ad  1. — A  child  retained  the  bad  habit  of  wetting 
its  bed.  It  was  compelled  by  means  of  suggestion  to  get  up 
during  the  night  and  micturate  into  the  chamber,  and  at  length 
to  hold  its  urine  altogether.  The  bad  habit  was  replaced  by  a 
good  one,  which  at  the  same  time  was  easy  to  secure,  because  it 
is  a  normal  one.  The  child  had  accustomed  itself  to  sleep  quite 
comfortably  in  the  wet  bed.  Now  it  has  become  accustomed  to 
remain  dry.  It  is  awakened  even  by  a  dream  of  passing  urine. 
We  can  obtain  a  definite  cure  in  this  case  if  no  abnormality  of 
the  bladder  or  urethra  or  onanistic  habits  continue  to  act  against 
the  result  of  the  suggestion  later  on. 

Ad  2. — A  person  suffered  from  migraine,  sleeplessness,  loss 
of  appetite,  tiredness,  constipation,  and  frequent  nocturnal 
emissions,  and  had  become  anaemic  and  thin  in  consequence.  I 
succeeded  in  supplying  him  with  sleep,  appetite,  regular 
motions,  and  cessation  of  the  emissions  by  means  of  suggestion. 
In  consequence,  the  anaemia  was  soon  lost,  the  hypnotized  per- 
son gained  in  nutrition  and  weight,  the  sleep  cured  the  nervous 
exhaustion,  and  thereby  also  the  migraine.  The  latter  can  be, 
however,  suggested  away  immediately.  In  this  way  the  balance 
of  the  organism  was  regained,  and  the  cure  will  remain  a  per- 
manent one  if  the  cause  which  produced  the  illness  does  not 
return  or  is  not  a  permanent  one. 


126  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

I  therefore  believe  that  suggestion  is  frequently  capable  of 
removing  acquired  vices  and  bad  habits  as  well  as  certain 
acquired  ailments,  especially  if  it  is  assisted  by  outside  means. 
But  it  can  never  permanently  alter  inherited  or  constitutional 
individual  characteristics.  In  such  cases  suggestion  will  only 
have  a  transitory  action,  and  the  same  applies  to  destructive 
and  also  to  deeply  rooted  troubles. 

But  we  do  not  always  know  in  a  concrete  case  how  much  of 
the  disturbance  is  inherited  and  how  much  is  acquired — i.e., 
individually  adapted.  B  is  often  sufficient  to  remove  the 
acquired  factor  in  order  to  arrest  or  suppress  the  inherited  dis- 
position. In  this  case  also  suggestion  is  able  to  do  good.  This 
is  what  we  do  when  we  remove  the  hystero-epileptic  attacks  in 
an  hysterical  person,  for  example,  by  means  of  suggestion, 
electrotherapy,  or  hydrotherapy.  The  latter  are  based  on  an 
action  similar  to  that  of  suggestion.  The  acquired  attacks  are 
cured  in  this  way,  but  the  hysterical  constitution  remains  un- 
changed. 

Every  long-lasting  result  of  suggestion,  as  long  as  it  influ- 
ences activities  during  the  waking  condition,  is,  eo  ipso,  post- 
hypnotic.  Thus  it  would  belong,  logically  speaking,  to  Lie- 
geois's  condition  prime.  For  example,  one  may  cite  suggested 
menstruation,  suggested  cheerfulness,  the  cure  of  stammering 
and  of  constipation  by  means  of  suggestion,  etc.  If  one  were 
to  push  formal  logic  to  the  extreme,  one  would  have  to  consider 
that  a  person  who  has  been  definitely  cured  would  remain  in 
the  condition  prime  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  I  only  wish  to 
point  out  clearly  by  this  that  there  cannot  be  a  line  of  demarca- 
tion between  the  altered  condition  of  the  mind  during  hypnosis 
and  its  perfectly  normal  condition  of  activity  during  waking. 
One  can  produce  any  stage  or  degree  experimentally.  To  a 
certain  extent,  graduated  transitions  are  observable  in  many 
persons  between  spontaneous  sleep  and  the  waking  condition 
without  suggestion.  Still,  these  are  produced  by  the  accident 
of  autosuggestion,  and  are  therefore  not  nearly  so  exactly  gradu- 
ated or  so  systematically  divided  as  those  produced  by  means  of 
suggestion. 

13.  "  HALLUCINATION  RETBOACTIVE,"  OK  SUGGESTED  FALSI- 


FALSIFICATION   OF  MEMORY  127 

FICATION  OF  MEMOEY. — Bernheim  calls  the  suggested  remem- 
brance of  what  has  never  taken  place  "  hallucination  retro- 
active." As  one  is  not  dealing  in  this  case  with  an  effective 
actual  perception,  nor  yet  necessarily  with  the  recollection  of 
perceptions — for  it  might  just  as  well  be  the  recollection  of  a 
thought  or  of  a  feeling  or  action — I  cannot  allow  this  term  to 
pass.  This  is  not  the  same,  either,  as  that  phenomenon  which 
is  called  actual  deception  of  memory  in  psychopathology,  since 
the  latter  always  refers  erroneously  a  duplicate,  or  a  remem- 
brance into  the  past,  in  the  place  of  an  actual  complex  of 
perceptions.  However,  the  suggested  process  is  equivalent 
psychologically  to  the  wider  idea  of  deception  of  memory, 
taken  in  the  sense  in  which  Kraepelin  has  defined  it.1 

Example. — I  said  all  of  a  sudden  to  a  certain  Miss  X.,  just 
as  a  young  man  who  was  a  stranger  to  her  came  into  the  room 
(she  was  awake  at  the  time)  :  "  You  know  this  gentleman. 
He  stole  your  purse  at  the  station  a  month  ago  and  ran  away 
with  it,"  etc.  She  looked  at  him,  first  somewhat  surprised,  but 
was  soon  convinced.  She  remembered  it  exactly,  and  even  added 

»A.  Delbrueck  ("The  Pathological  Lie  and  the  Psychically  Abnormal 
Swindler":  Enke,  1891)  describes  a  case  of  deception  of  memory  in  a  lunatic 
in  the  Burghoelzli  Asylum.  At  first  I  had  regarded  it  as  a  simple  hallucina- 
tion; one  used  to  think,  erroneously,  that  one  was  dealing  in  such  cases  with 
effective  hallucinations.  This  patient  frequently  suddenly  appeared  and 
explained,  or  wrote  in  great  indignation,  that  the  director  or  the  assistant 
medical  officer  had  done  horrible  things  to  him — had  ill-used  him,  undressed 
him,  etc. — on  some  past  occasion  (yesterday  or  early  this  morning  to  a  stated 
hour).  The  important  point  of  this  is— ^and  it  can  be  proved  easily — that 
he  did  not  have  the  hallucination  at  the  time  to  which  he  referred  it,  but  was 
quietly  doing  something  ordinary,  and  was  in  good  spirits.  He  explained 
the  matter  in  this  way:  he  had  obviously  been  given  some  narcotic,  so  that 
the  remembrance  of  the  atrocity  only  returned  to  him  several  hours  later. 
Now,  this  is  the  purest  form  of  Bernheim's  "hallucination  retroactive,"  only 
it  was  spontaneous  and  not  suggested,  and  depended  on  a  severe  mental 
disturbance. 

Another  lunatic  in  the  same  asylum  autpsuggested  negative  deceptions 
of  memory,  which  had  given  rise  to  the  delusion  of  so-called  "creative  acts." 
For  example,  he  said  to  me:  "  Doctor,  this  table  only  appeared  this  morning; 
it  was  not  there  before.  This  is  an  act  of  creation.  You  may  say  that  I  am 
mistaken,  but  you  may  only  speak  in  that  way  if  you  have  higher  powers," 
etc.  The  table  had  stood  for  years  in  the  same  place  in  the  recreation-room 
for  the  patients.  But  it  was  not  difficult  to  prove  that  this  patient  had  known 
the  table  long  ago,  and  had  always  used  it.  Thus  a  real  negative  hallucina- 
tion had  not  actually  been  present.  This  had  only  lain  in  the  recollection, 
and  took  place  at  the  time  when  he  regarded  the  object  (in  the  same  way  as 
with  genuine  deceptions  of  memory);  only  the  object  was  blotted  out  from 
the  past,  instead  of  being  again  added  to  it.  The  same  patient  constantlv  had 
delusions  of  similar  creative  acts,  as  the  result  of  this  kind  of  negative  decep- 
tions of  memory  (retroactive  negative  hallucinations). 


128  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

that  there  was  a  pound  in  the  purse.  She  then  demanded  that 
he  should  be  punished.  If  I  can  successfully  suggest  amnesia 
to  a  person  for  a  certain  past  time,  or  for  one  of  his  brain 
dynamisms — e.g.,  for  an  acquired  language — then  I  can  just 
as  easily  suggest  an  artificial  addition  to  his  recollections,  as 
long  as  I  bring  the  corresponding  conceptions  into  his  brain. 
If  I  say  to  a  hypnotized  person,  "  You  can  speak  Sanscrit," 
he  will  not  be  able  to  do  so  unless  he  has  learned  it.  If 
I  say  to  him,  however,  "  You  have  experienced  this  or  that, 
or  done,  said,  or  thought  something,"  etc.,  he  believes  that  he 
has  experienced,  done,  or  thought  it,  assimilates  the  suggestion 
fully  in  the  recollections  of  his  past  life,  and  complements  in 
those  places  where  I  have  left  the  details  out  (as  in  the  case  of 
the  contents  of  the  purse).  A  small  boy,  aged  eight  years, 
whom  I  showed  at  the  meeting  of  the  Law  Society  in  Zurich, 
swore  before  God  that  one  of  the  barristers  present  had  stolen 
his  pocket  handkerchief  a  week  previously,  in  response  to  my 
suggestion,  lie  added  of  his  own  account,  when  he  was  asked, 
the  exact  place  and  time.  Five  minutes  later  I  suggested  Jo 
him  that  this  had  never  taken  place,  and  that  he  had  never  said 
that  it  had.  He  denied  with  just  as  definite  boldness  on  his 
oath  the  charge  which  he  had  made  a  few  minutes  before,  in 
spite  of  the  indignant  admonition  of  the  lawyer. 

It  is  greatly  to  Bernheim's  credit  that  he  has  explained  these 
very  important  facts  clearly  by  means  of  numerous  examples. 
Bernheim  has  even  given  these  retroactive  suggestions  collect- 
ively, and  produced  a  number  of  false  witnesses  in  this  way, 
who  gave  their  evidence  with  absolute  conviction.  He  has 
pointed  out  that  it  is  particularly  easy  to  produce  such  decep- 
tions of  memory  during  complete  wakefulness  by  means  of  sug- 
gestion, especially  in  children.  These  are  instinctively  inclined 
to  accept,  more  or  less,  everything  which  is  told  them  by  grown- 
up people  in  a  decided  tone.  Since  suggestion  can  be  successful 
in  many  cases  in  which  marked  influences  of  imagination  act 
without  hypnotic  sleep  ever  having  taken  place  previously,  and 
since  this  holds  good  especially  for  children  and  weakly  per- 
sons, one  understands  how  great  the  danger  of  the  suggestion 
of  a  false  witness  is,  and  especially  of  false  admissions  in 


GOTTFRIED   KELLER  129 

response  to  the  suggestive  questions  of  the  examining  judge. 
Bernheim  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  such  cases  have 
not  infrequently  taken  place  in  criminal  procedures.  For 
example,  this  was  so  in  the  supposed  Tisza-Ezlar  ritual  murder 
case,  in  which  a  child,  influenced  suggestively  in  this  way 
appeared  as  a  witness  for  the  Crown.  Lawyers  are  no  doubt  in 
a  position  to  find  many  such  cases  among  the  accounts  of  cele- 
brated trials.  Intimidation  and  also  imitation  act  similarly 
in  children.  It  is  certain  that  there  is  scarcely  a  boy  or  girl 
who  dares  to  refuse  to  submit  to  Church  confirmation,  although 
most  of  them  would  deny  all  that  they  had  promised  then  a 
short  time  later.  In  this  an  undistinguishable  mixture  of 
intimidation,  imitation,  and  suggestion,  etc.,  takes  part.  This 
is  mostly  not  a  conscious  lie. 

A.  Delbrueck1  mentions  a  highly  interesting  tale  of  the  poet 
Gottfried  Keller,2  which  represents  nothing  else  than  an  excel- 

1  A.  Delbrueck,  loc.  tit. 

2  Gottfried  Keller  ("Der  Gruene  Heinrich,"  new  edition,  1879,  chap,  viii., 
p.  107  et  seq.,  Crimes  of  Children). — "  I  did  not  speak  much,  but  took  care  that 
nothing  of  what  was  taking  place  before  my  eyes  and  ears  escaped  me.     Laden 
with  all  these  impressions,  I  then  crossed  over  the  way  again  to  home,  and 
wove  a  great  dreamlike  fabric  out  of  the  material  in  the  stillness  of  our  apart- 
ment, and  in  this  my  excited  imagination  gave  its  council.     It  intermingled 
itself  with  real  life,  so  that  I  could  hardly  distinguish  it  from  the  latter. 

"  In  this  way  I  may  be  able  to  explain  a  story  among  others  which  I  expe- 
rienced when  I  was  about  seven  years  old,  and  which  I  could  not  explain 
in  any  other  way.  I  was  sitting  once  at  the  table  busy  with  some  toy,  and 
made  use  of  some  indecent,  highly  vulgar  words,  which  I  had  probably  heard 
in  the  streets,  and  which  I  did  not  understand.  A  woman  was  sitting  with 
my  mother,  and  was  talking  to  her,  when  she  heard  the  words,  and  called 
my  mother's  attention  to  them.  She  asked  me  very  seriously  who  had  taught 
me  such  things.  The  strange  lady  especially  pressed  me,  at  which  I  was 
astonished.  I  thought  for  a  moment,  and  then  mentioned  the  name  of  a 
boy  whom  I  was  accustomed  to  meet  at  school.  At  the  same  time  I  added  the 
names  of  two  or  three  others,  all  of  whom  were  boys  of  from  twelve  to  thirteen 
years  old,  and  with  whom  I  had  scarcely  ever  spoken  a  word.  A  few  days 
later  the  schoolmaster  kept  me  in  after  school-time,  much  to  my  surprise,  and 
also  the  four  boys  whom  I  had  mentioned.  These  boys  seemed  to  me  to  be 
almost  men,  as  they  were  much  older  and  bigger  than  I  was.  A  clergyman 
came  in,  sat  down  next  to  the  master,  and  told  me  to  sit  next  to  him.  This 
clergyman  usually  gave  religious  instruction  in  the  school,  and  managed  the 
school  generally.  The  boys,  on  the  other  hand,  had  to  stand  in  a  row  in  front 
of  the  table  and  wait  for  what  was  about  to  take  place.  They  were  then  asked 
in  solemn  tones  whether  they  had  uttered  certain  words  in  my  presence. 
They  did  not  know  what  to  answer,  and  were  quite  astounded.  The  clergy- 
man then  turned  to  me,  and  said:  'Where  have  you  heard  these  boys  say 
these  things?'  I  had  collected  myself  by  this  time,  and  answered  unhesi- 
tatingly, with  cool  determination:  'In  the  Briiderlein  Wood.'  This  wood  is 
situated  about  four  miles  from  the  town,  but  I  had  never  been  there  in  my 
life,  and  had  only  heard  peonle  talk  of  it.  I  was  further  asked:  'What  hap- 
pened on  that  occasion?  How  did  you  get  there?'  I  related  that  the  boys 


130  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

lent  example  of  suggested  deception  of  memory  or  of  retroactive 
hallucination.  Keller's  account  is  so  true,  and  corresponds  so 
exactly  with  all  the  details  of  the  psychological  phenomenon, 
that  I  am  bound  to  believe  with  Delbrueck  that  the  poet  must 
have  experienced  the  story  himself.  This  appears  to  be  all  the 
more  probable,  since  it  is  known  that  Keller,  in  the  "  Gruene 
Heinrich"  (Heinrich  Lee),  has  incorporated  many  experiences 
of  his  own  life.  Heinrich  Lee  was  seven  years  old  at  the  time 
of  the  story.  I  may  add  that  every  one  can  easily  observe  in 
little  children,  and  especially  in  children  of  from  two  to  four 
years  of  age,  the  boundless  suggestibility  and  confusion  of 
conception  with  reality.  I  have  myself  watched  a  girl  between 
the  age  of  eight  and  nine  years  who  completely  forgot  to  go 
home  to  dinner  after  she  had  come  out  of  school.  She  there- 
upon suggested  to  herself  a  perfectly  untrue  story,  according 
to  which  she  had  been  invited  to  dinner  by  a  lady,  had  been 
driven  to  the  house  in  a  carriage,  etc.  She  told  me  the  story 
in  all  its  details,  and  with  naive  conviction.  There  was  no  ques- 

had  persuaded  me  one  day  to  take  a  walk,  and  had  taken  me  to  the  wood, 
and  described  the  manner  in  which  bigger  boys  take  a  little  boy  on  a  rollicking 
expedition.  The  accused  were  beside  themselves,  and  declared  with  tears 
in  their  eyes  that  some  of  them  had  not  been  in  the  wood  for  a  long  time,  and 
some  of  them  had  never  been  there  at  all,  and  none  had  been  there  with  me. 
They  regarded  me  with  terrified  hatred,  as  if  I  had  been  a  furious  snake,  and 
wanted  to  heap  reproaches  and  questions  on  me.  They  were,  however,  told 
to  be  quiet,  and  I  was  requested  to  say  which  way  we  had  gone.  This  ap- 
peared at  once  before  my  eyes,  and,  incited  by  the  contradiction  and  denial 
of  a  fairy  tale,  in  which  I  really  believed  myself  by  this  time,  for  I  could  not 
explain  the  real  procedure  of  the  scene  which  was  taking  place  in  any  other 
way,  I  described  the  road  exactly  which  led  to  the  place.  I  had  only  known 
the  roads  from  casual  hearsay,  and,  although  I  had  scarcely  paid  any  attention 
to  this,  I  was  able  to  place  each  word  correctly.  I  also  went  on  to  describe 
how  we  had  collected  nuts  on  the  way  from  the  trees;  how  we  had  lit  a  fire  and 
baked  potatoes,  which  we  had  stolen;  and,  further,  how  we  had  thrashed  a 
peasant  boy  unmercifully  for  trying  to  stop  us.  When  we  arrived  in  the  wood, 
my  comrades  climbed  up  high  pine-trees,  and  shouted  'Hurrah!'  from  their 
high  perches,  and  called  the  schoolmaster  and  clergyman  by  nicknames.  I 
had  long  before  invented  these  nicknames  of  my  own  ideas,  having  considered 
the  appearance  of  both  men  in  so  doing,  but  I  had  never  uttered  them  aloud. 
I  told  them  to  their  faces  what  those  names  were  at  this  opportunity,  and 
the  rage  of  the  gentlemen  was  just  as  great  as  was  the  astonishment  of  the 
accused  boys.  After  they  had  come  down  from  the  trees,  they  cut  big  birches, 
and  told  me  to  climb  a  small  tree  and  call  out  the  nicknames  from  the  top. 
As  I  protested,  they  tied  me  firmly  to  a  tree,  and  beat  me  with  the  birch  until 
I  said  everything  that  they  told  me  to  say,  including  the  indecent  words. 
While  I  was  calling  out,  they  sneaked  away  behind  my  back,  and  a  peasant 
came  up  at  the  same  moment.  He  heard  the  dirty  things  I  was  saying,  and 
caught  me  by  the  ear.  '  Just  you  wait  till  I  catch  you  boys.'  he  called  out : 
'I  have  got  this  one';  and  with  this  he  dealt  me  several  blows.  He  then 


SUGGESTIBILITY   IN   CHILDREN  131 

tion  that  she  was  telling  willful  lies.  The  child  had  no  reason 
to  do  this,  and,  besides,  she  was  not  otherwise  untruthful. 

Keller's  story  and  its  true  importance  possesses  all  the  more 
scientific  value,  since  the  doctrine  of  suggestion  was  still  quite 
unknown  at  the  time  when  "  Der  Gruene  Heinrich  "  appeared. 
Keller,  thus  uninfluenced  by  any  theory  and  investigation  of 
others,  wrote  down  his  excellent  psychological  observation. 

In  Psychiatry  one  has  long  recognized  cases  of  false  self- 
accusations,  in  which  insane  patients  accuse  themselves  of  a 
crime  which  they  have  not  committed,  giving  the  most  minute 
details,  and  applying  to  the  court  for  punishment.  One  also 
recognizes  in  the  same  kind  of  patients  the  occurrence  of  false 
accusations  against  other  persons.  One  has  hitherto  always  re- 
garded these  things  as  delusions,  which  are  based  on  delusions  of 
sinning,  or  delusions  of  persecution,  or  hysteria,  mania,  and  the 
like.  This  is  mostly  the  case.  The  patients  are  convinced  of 
it;  the  delusions  are  compulsory  autosuggestions  depending 
on  mental  disease.  But  one  meets  with  cases  in  which  these 
self-accusations  are  possessed  of  a  typically  suggestive  charac- 

went  his  way  and  left  me  where  I  was.  The  light  was  fading.  With  much 
difficulty  I  freed  myself  from  my  bonds,  and  tried  to  find  my  way  home  in 
the  dark  wood.  I  missed  my  way  and  fell  into  a  deep  brook,  in  which  I  partly 
swam  and  partly  waded  until  I  came  to  the  end  of  the  wood.  In  this  way, 
after  experiencing  many  difficulties,  I  succeeded  in  finding  the  right  way. 
I  was,  however,  attacked  by  a  big  billy-goat,  and  fought  him  with  a  pole 
which  I  quickly  tore  from  a  hedge,  and  beat  him  till  he  ran  away. 

"  Such  an  amount  of  eloquence  as  I  had  employed  in  telling  this  story  had 
never  before  been  heard  of  me  in  the  school.  No  one  thought  of  asking  my 
mother  if  she  could  remember  a  time  when  I  had  come  home  of  an  evening 
wet  through  and  through;  but  the  fact  that  one  or  other  of  the  boys  had 
played  the  truant  just  about  the  time  of  which  I  had  been  speaking  was 
brought  up  in  connection  with  what  I  had  been  relating.  My  extreme  youth 
was  believed  in,  as  was  my  story:  this  was  shot  unexpectedly  and  un con- 
strainedly from  the  blue  sky  of  my  habitual  silence.  The  accused  were  inno- 
cently convicted  as  wild,  ill-conditioned  young  fellows;  their  obstinate  and 
unanimous  denial  and  their  righteous  indignation  and  despair  only  made 
matters  worse.  They  received  the  most  severe  punishment  the  school  could 
give  them,  had  to  take  their  places  on  the  'shame'  bench,  and,  besides,  they 
were  whipped  and  locked  up  by  their  parents. 

"As  far  as  I  can  dimly  remember,  I  was  not  only  indifferent  in  respect 
to  the  wrong  which  I  had  done,  but  I  rather  felt  a  satisfaction  in  myself  that 
my  invention  had  been  so  prettily  and  visibly  smoothed  by  poetic  license, 
and  that  something  of  importance  had  taken  place,  had  been  dealt  with,  and 
had  been  suffered,  and  this  as  a  result  of  my  creative  value.  I  did  not 
understand  how  the  ill-used  boys  could  lament  so  and  be  so  wild  with  me, 
as  the  excellent  course  of  the  story  was  self-evident,  and  I  was  just  as  little 
capable  of  altering  anything  of  it  as  the  old  gods  were  of  altering  fate." 

This  last  explanation  of  Keller's  corresponds  obviously  more  to  the  later 
reflections  of  the  adult  poet  than  to  the  direct  impressions  of  the  child. 


132  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

ter,  and  are  only  associated  with  very  trivial  mental  abnormal- 
ities. I  myself  have  come  across  a  case  of  a  man  who  accused 
himself  of  having  committed  a  murder  which  another  man  in 
reality  had  committed.  He  was  only  very  slightly  melancholic 
and  depressed.  He  realized  his  mistake  a  few  days  later,  and 
admitted  that  the  actual  murder  had  made  a  great  impression 
on  him.  Shortly  before  it  had  taken  place  he  had  associated 
with  the  accomplice  (a  female)  of  the  murderer,  and  then  it 
suddenly  seemed  as  if  he  himself  had  committed  the  murder. 
It  seemed  as  if  he  had  experienced  every  single  circumstance 
which  his  imagination  called  forth  in  him.  He  was  convinced, 
and  could  not  help  giving  himself  up  to  the  police  and  confess- 
ing it  all.  It  had  since  become  clear  to  him  that  this  was  only 
a  deception,  just  like  a  dream.  Manakow's  case  (a  case  of  self- 
accusation  in  a  weak-minded  and  melancholic  person,  1885) 
was  of  a  similar  nature.  Here  the  patient  charged  herself 
with  infanticide,  which  another  person  had  committed,  although 
she  herself  had  never  borne  a  child,  and  was,  in  fact,  a  virgo 
intacta. 

A  similar  condition  is  met  with  in  some  hysterical  and  imagi- 
native liars.  These  persons  lie  to  themselves  and  to  others 
continually,  but  are  not  capable  of  distinguishing  clearly  be- 
tween that  which  has  been  experienced  and  that  which  has  been 
invented.  They  cheat  and  make  up  things,  either  half  con- 
sciously or  quite  unconsciously.  One  misunderstands  such 
people  entirely  from  a  psychological  point  of  view  if  one 
invests  their  false  statements  with  the  dignity  of  conscious  lies. 
They  are  instinct  liars ;  they  are  incapable  of  speaking  the  truth 
even  if  they  are  put  on  their  oath,  if  they  are  beaten  or  despised, 
if  one  applies  every  conceivable  means  of  kindness  or  strictness 
in  order  to  get  them  to  give  up  lying.  They  only  continue  auto- 
matically and  unconsciously  to  tell  one  the  most  simple  and 
useless  fairy  tales.  In  my  youth  I  was  able  to  follow  up  the 
history  of  one  of  my  comrades  who  had  this  propensity,  and 
attempted  every  possible  means  of  breaking  him  of  it — in 
vain.  He  had  inherited  this  autosuggestive  peculiarity  from 
his  mother,  whom  he  had  never  known,  as  she  died  a  few  weeks 
after  his  birth.  In  this  case  one  is  dealing  with  a  constitutional 


LIES  133 

brain  or  mental  disturbance  which  may  have  some  relationship 
with  an  habitual  diseased  autosuggestibility.  The  salient  symp- 
tom of  these  pathological  swindlers  can  be  expressed  by  the 
term  "  pseudologia  phantastica "  (see  Delbrueck,  loc.  cit.). 
The  celebrated  swindler  of  millions,  Theresa  Humbert,  was,  in 
my  opinion,  certainly  of  this  type. 

14.  SIMULATION  AND  DISSIMULATION  OF  HYPNOSIS. — It 
must  be  apparent  to  every  thinking  person,  from  what  has  been 
said,  (1)  that  the  judgment  of  those  skeptic  esprits  forts  who 
cursorily  dismiss  hypnosis  as  humbug  is  based  on  a  narrow- 
minded  bias,  without  a  personal  investigation  of  the  facts; 
and  (2)  that,  on  the  other  hand,  a  careful  criticism  and  self- 
criticism  is  necessary  in  hypnotic  experiment,  as  every  one  of 
the  experimenters  of  standing  have  proved.  In  the  first  place, 
every  hypnotized  person  is  weak  and  accommodating,  and  tries 
to  guess  the  intentions  of  the  hypnotist,  so  that  he  may  carry 
them  out.  This,  however,  is  not  malingering,  but  is  suggesti- 
bility— i.e.,  plasticity  caused  by  dissociation  of  the  brain 
activity.  One  must  watch  the  inconsistency  closely  which  lies 
between  the  behavior  of  the  hypnotized  person  in  the  state  of 
hypoconsciousness  and  his  statements  in  the  state  of  supercon- 
sciousness.  One  must  take  amnesia  into  account,  and  is  just 
as  little  justified  in  regarding  him  as  a  conscious  malingerer 
as  one  is  in  regarding  him  as  an  unconscious  automaton.  How- 
ever, some  people  half  unconsciously  simulate  the  symptoms  of 
hypnosis  from  a  diseased  desire  of  cheating  or  lying.  These 
are  usually  hysterical  persons,  or  the  kind  of  liars  mentioned 
above.  But  since  these  persons  believe  their  lies  themselves, 
their  hypnosis  is  neither  entirely  simulated  nor  yet  entirely 
real.  They  play  with  this,  add  autosuggestions  to  it,  only  obey 
those  suggestions  which  appeal  to  their  fancies,  and  so  on. 
The  more  phantastic  and  dramatic  the  suggestion  is,  the  better 
it  succeeds  with  them,  as  a  rule.  But  these  are  extremely  unre- 
liable subjects.  Some  schools,  and  especially  the  Salpetriere 
School,  have  unfortunately  fallen  into  the  error  of  using  such 
individuals  as  the  bases  for  their  experiments.  One  further 
meets  with  some  intensely  stupid  people  who  think  that  one 
only  wants  them  to  pretend  to  be  asleep,  and  who  simulate  just 


134  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

to  please  the  experimenter.  Bernheim  calls  attention  to  this. 
However,  it  is  very  easy  to  discover  the  source  of  the  deception 
by  personal  control  and  by  well-directed  questions.  Still 
another  class  is  represented  by  those  conceitedly  stupid  people 
who  become  ashamed  later  on  of  having  been  hypnotized,  and 
declare  that  they  only  simulated,  although  they  were  hypno- 
tized quite  well  in  reality.  Bernheim  paid  special  attention 
to  these  cases,  and  I,  too,  have  observed  them  at  times.  If  one 
can  find  them  out,  a  few  suggestions  correctly  applied,  as  a 
rule,  suffice  to  compel  them  spontaneously  to  confess  their  false 
statements  at  the  proper  place.  Others,  again,  are  firmly  con- 
vinced that  they  have  not  been  hypnotized,  because  they  were 
not  amnesic.  They  say  that  they  did  not  try  to  bring  the  arm 
down,  for  instance.  In  this  case,  all  that  is  required  is  a  press- 
ing invitation.  "  Do  try  to  bring  it  down  with  all  the  strength 
you  possess.  I  will  permit  it.  I  beg  of  you  to  try,  but  you 
cannot  do  it." 

If  one  shows  a  hypnotized  person  that  one  mistrusts  him, 
one  can  give  him  the  suggestion  without  being  aware  of  it  that 
he  has  malingered,  and  thus  give  rise  to  a  false  confession  of 
simulation  (deception  of  memory).  I  have  seen  a  classical 
case  of  this  kind  which  was  produced  by  a  mistrustful  doctor. 

The  hypnotized  person,  a  man,  came  to  me  crying,  and  con- 
fessed that  he  had  not  slept  at  all,  that  it  was  all  humbug — 
he  had  felt  all  the  pin-pricks — and  that  he  had  only  carried  out 
the  posthypnotic  phenomena  in  order  to  please  me,  etc.  The 
doctor  who  had  enticed  him  to  make  this  confession  (without 
doubt  by  means  of  suggestive  questions,  and  with  the  best  of 
intentions)  stood  by  with  a  serious  face.  I  apparently  took 
it  in,  gave  the  hypnotized  a  good  talking  to,  and  said  that  he 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself  for  having  been  so  weak-minded. 
I  extracted  a  solemn  promise  from  him  in  future  only  to  tell 
me  the  absolute  truth.  He  was  deeply  moved  as  he  promised 
this.  Although  this  scene  was  very  touching,  I  knew  quite 
well  that  he  had  not  simulated,  for  he  had  been  deeply  hypno- 
tized, and  was  totally  somnambulic.  His  expression  during 
the  hypnosis  and  on  awakening  was  of  that  type  which  cannot 
bs  simulated.  Immediately  after  he  had  given  the  promise, 


SIMULATION  135 

and  after  we  had  become  reconciled,  I  hypnotized  him  again 
in  the  presence  of  the  doctor.  I  then  suggested  anaesthesia  of 
his  hand.  The  first  two  pricks  of  a  needle  were  felt,  and  he 
acknowledged  this  during  the  hypnosis;  but  he  did  not  feel 
anything  of  the  rest  of  the  pricks,  and  denied  having  felt  any- 
thing, and  the  rest  of  the  suggestions  succeeded  as  they  had 
done  before.  After  he  awoke  he  acknowledged  that  he  had  felt 
two  needle-pricks.  He  did  not  know  anything  of  the  rest, 
although  many  of  the  later  ones  were  much  deeper  than  the  first. 
In  this  way  the  hypnotized  man  was  consoled  and  the  doctor 
taught  a  lesson. 

Oscar  Vogt  adds  the  following:1 

"  Such  confessions  of  malingering  may  naturally  depend  on 
autosuggestion  as  well.  In  such  a  case,  it  presupposes  a  certain 
degree  of  influencing,  in  which  a  transitory  amnesia  at  the 
utmost  is  present.  Two  cases  may  be  cited  here : 

"  (1)  The  patient,  whose  nervous  system  was  healthy,  was 
somnambulic  during  the  second  sitting.  He  carried  out  some 
commands  posthypnotically  with  promptitude.  Before  he  left 
the  doctor,  amnesia  for  the  commands  which  he  had  carried 
out  was  suggested  to  the  patient.  He  left  the  doctor  perfectly 
amnesic.  He  came  again  in  three  days,  and  declared  that  he 
had  not  been  hypnotized.  He  knew  all  that  had  occurred.  He 
had  only  carried  out  the  commands  of  the  doctor  to  please  him. 
The  amnesia  had  not  lasted,  and  this  circumstance  had  called 
forth  the  conception  that  he  had  not  been  hypnotized  at  all. 
A  renewed  hypnosis  convinced  the  patient. 

"  (2)  A  medical  man  who  was  much  inclined  to  autosug- 
gestions was  hypnotized.  The  patient  became  somnambulic. 
A  posthypnotic  hallucination  and  posthypnotic  carrying  out  of 
a  command  succeeded  promptly.  The  patient,  who  suffered 
from  sleeplessness,  was  to  take  a  drink  of  water  in  the  evenings, 
and  then  go  to  sleep  at  once.  After  he  awoke,  the  patient  was 
doubtful  whether  he  had  slept.  He  was  absolutely  amnesic. 
During  the  course  of  the  day  the  amnesia  became  lost.  In  the 
evening  he  had  already  become  very  doubtful  whether  he  had 
been  hypnotized  at  all.  Since  it  was  just  possible,  he  again 
1  A.  Forel:  "Hypnotism,"  third  edition. 


136  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

drank  some  water,  but  without  going  to  sleep  after  it.  He  then 
became  convinced  that  he  had  not  been  hypnotized." 

The  two  last-mentioned  categories  of  deceptions,  as  one  can 
see,  do  not  offer  any  serious  difficulty,  while  the  first  (hysterical 
persons  and  pathological  swindlers)  is  frequently  impossible 
to  be  sure  of,  on  account  of  the  indistinguishable  mixing  up 
with  real  hypnosis.  The  only  class  still  remaining  to  be  men- 
tioned is  that  of  conscious  malingering  for  definite  reasons. 
This  is  possible,  and  may  lead  to  deception  at  first,  since  one 
has  to  be  careful  in  hypnotizing  a  person  for  the  first  time. 
However,  the  malingerer  runs  the  risk  of  being  caught — i.e., 
of  being  hypnotized — if  he  acts  his  part  too  well.  If  he  does 
not  act  well,  he  will  not  be  able  to  deceive  an  experienced  experi- 
menter for  long.  But,  after  all,  the  whole  thing  is  only  done 
as  a  rather  stupid  joke,  which  but  few  people  are  inclined  for, 
and  least  of  all  a  patient  who  wishes  to  be  cured. 

Professor  Fr.  Fuchs,1  of  Bonn,  has  written  a  very  humorous, 
sarcastic  satire  on  the  hypnotic  demonstration  of  a  "  foreign 
master,"  and  believes  that  he  has  exposed  a  somnambulist  in 
his  true  character  of  malingerer.  From  his  account  that  this 
professor  "  had  practiced  the  important  discovery  of  the  distant 
action  of  medicaments  in  sealed  glasses,"  and  also  from  the 
incredible  want  of  method  of  the  experiments  which  he  had 
witnessed,  I  believe  that  I  am  not  mistaken  if  I  deduce  that 
the  master  and  professor  was  Dr.  Luys,  of  Paris.  If  Professor 
Fuchs  only  knows  hypnotism  through  Luys,  I  must  acknowledge 
that  I  cannot  find  much  fault  with  his  criticism ;  but  one  is  not 
justified  in  stamping  brain  anatomy  as  "  all  bosh "  because 
Luys  was  guilty  of  almost  as  great  a  want  of  method  in  study- 
ing the  anatomy  of  the  brain,  and  described  fiber  systems  which 
only  he  was  able  to  see,  and  which  undoubtedly  do  not  exist, 
etc.  However,  Professor  Fuchs  arrived,  practically,  at  such- 
like conclusions  in  reference  to  hypnotism. 

The  experiment  which  Professor  Fuchs  carried  out  to  prove 
that  an  innocent  young  man,  who  had  been  hypnotized  publicly 
by  Krause  in  Bonn,  had  been  acting  is  interesting. 

1  Professor  Fr.  Fuchs:  "The  Comedy  of  Hypnosis."  (Berl.  Klin.  Wochen- 
sohrift,  No.  46,  November  17,  1890.) 


SIMULATION  137 

Professor  Fuchs  himself  hypnotized  the  same  young  man 
later  on  to  control  the  matter.  He  gave  him  all  sorts  of  sug- 
gestions before  he  hypnotized  him,  which,  if  they  should  take 
place,  were  to  prove  that  the  man  was  malingering — at  least, 
so  he  thought.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Fuchs  was  quite  uncon- 
scious of  these  suggestions,  but  they  were  none  the  less  insinuat- 
ing. For  example,  he  explained  minutely  to  him  that  he  would 
later  during  the  hypnosis  compress  the  radial  nerve,  and  that 
the  muscles  supplied  by  it  would  contract,  but  actually  demon- 
strated to  him  the  movements  which  are  produced  by  the  in- 
nervation  of  the  median.  This  suggestion  which  Professor 
Fuchs  so  forcibly  gave  during  the  waking  condition  was  natu- 
rally carried  out  by  the  individual  promptly  during  the 
hypnosis.  Professor  Fuchs,  however,  called  out,  "  Caught ! 
Simulation !  "  and  so  on.  Then  he  taxed  the  young  man  with 
having  malingered,  and  at  length  extracted  the  confession  from 
him  (again  by  suggestion)  that  "perhaps  he  had  been  acting 
without  having  been  aware  of  it  during  the  hypnosis."  Pro- 
fessor Fuchs  did  not  press  him  to  make  a  full  confession,  so 
that  the  young  man  might  "  beat  an  honorable  retreat,"  or,  in 
other  words,  out  of  sheer  humanitarian  reasons.  I  am  sure 
that  he  could  have  retroactively  suggested  a  confession  to  this 
man  if  he  had  wished  to,  in  the  same  way  as  the  doctor  had 
done  in  the  case  mentioned  before.  Still,  in  spite  of  the  appar- 
ent exposure  by  Professor  Fuchs,  the  young  man  had  certainly 
not  malingered. 

In  conclusion,  Professor  Fuchs  adds  a  very  excellent  exam- 
ple of  the  suggestive  cure  of  blepharospasm  by  electric  current 
from  his  own  practice.  He  declares  himself  (just  as  we  do) 
that  the  cure  was  not  due  to  the  electricity,  but  to  the  imagi- 
nation. 

It  is  really  quite  amusing,  and  at  the  same  time  instructive, 
to  note  how  the  whole  of  Professor  Fuch's  description  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  contains  a  confirmation  of  the  doctrine 
of  suggestion  in  nearly  all  its  details,  although  he  certainly 
did  not  intend  it.  It  also  contains  just  as  sharp  judgment  on 
the  Charcot  School,  and,  it  is  true,  a  harder  one  on  Luys' 
illusion. 


138  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

15.  THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  SUGGESTION. — I  can  deal  briefly 
with  this,  and  refer  the  reader  further  to  what  has  already  been 
said.  The  principal  significance  of  suggestion  is  a  psychological 
and  psychophysiological  one.  It  offers  the  psychologists  a  scien- 
tific method  for  experimenting,  the  like  of  which  they  did  not 
possess  hitherto.  That  it  is  a  wonderfully  delicate  and  many- 
sided  reagent  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  can  influence  and 
modify  all  the  characteristics  of  the  mind  down  to  the  finest 
variations  of  logic,  ethics,  and  aesthetics.1 

On  looking  more  closely  at  it,  suggestion  is  revealed  to  us 
as  being  an  invasion  into  the  associative  dynamics  of  our  mind. 
It  dissociates  that  which  was  associated,  and  associates  that 
which  was  not  associated  before.  Its  chief  invasion  is  an  inhibi- 
tory one,  is  a  dissociation  of  the  associated  (hypoconceived) 
automatisms  of  the  mind  (brain).  The  dissociated  dynamics 
of  the  brain  of  the  hypnotized  person  are  in  the  condition  of 
weakness  or  of  hypotaxis,  as  compared  with  the  well-concen- 
trated and  associated  dynamics  of  the  hypnotist,  which  press 
the  suggestion  into  the  former  by  the  way  of  the  organs  of 
special  sense.  Its  activity  becomes  plastically  moldable,  and 
is  compelled  to  adapt  itself  more  or  less  irresistibly  to  the  sug- 
gestion. The  cause  of  this  subordination  does  not  lie  so  much  in 
the  special  strength  of  the  hypnotist  as  in  the  feeling  and  in 
the  conviction  of  the  subjection  or  the  being  influenced  on  the 
part  of  the  hypnotized  person.  We  are  all  in  the  condition  of 
hypotaxis,  of  weakness,  of  dissociation  during  normal  sleep, 
and  we  then  confuse  all  our  thoughts  (dreams)  with  actual 
occurrences.  For  this  reason  sleep  is  very  advantageous  for 
suggestion.  During  sleep  even  the  more  powerful  brain  must 
obey  the  suggestions  of  an  otherwise  less  powerful  brain,  which, 
as  it  is  in  a  waking  condition,  is  more  powerfully  associated. 
But  if  once  a  mind  A  (a  brain)  has  been  energetically  influ- 
enced by  another,  B,  in  this  way,  the  possibility  of  being 
influenced  by  the  mind  B  remains  by  means  of  the  recollection 
which  has  called  forth  the  conviction  that  B  is  capable  of  acting 
on  the  mind  A.  Still,  it  is  the  activity  of  the  mind  (the  brain) 
A  which  in  reality  accomplishes  the  potent  action  of  the  sug- 
gestion. It  is  only  guided  more  or  less  definitely  and  at  will 
1O.  Vogt  (see  p.  165),  and  Naeff's  thesis  on  "A  Case  of  Amnesia." 


SIGNIFICANCE   OF   SUGGESTION  139 

by  the  mind  B — i.e.,  is  incited  to  dissociation,  association,  inhi- 
bition, or  to  marked  development.  Similar  processes  are  at 
work  in  the  taming  of  lions  and  elephants. 

B  only  uses  those  dynamisms  present  in  A,  which  work  as 
idiosyncrasies  in  the  dynamisms  of  the  mind  A,  and  which 
only  follow  the  suggestions  from  B  because  they  are  no  longer 
capable  of  inducing  a  conscious  general  concentration,  and  no 
longer  recognize  their  own  power.  A's  dynamisms  are  there- 
fore taken  unawares  more  and  more  by  B's  suggestions,  and 
always  follow  them  more  and  more  automatically — at  all  events 
at  first. 

The  same  sort  of  conditions  apply  to  the  influence  of  persons 
on  one  another  in  political  and  also  in  social  life  generally. 
One  meets  with  it  in  the  case  of  the  ringleader  among  children, 
and  among  animals;  in  certain  prophets  and  chiefs;  in  the 
white  man  against  the  colored  races ;  in  Napoleon  and  Bismarck 
against  Europe ;  in  human  beings  against  the  domestic  animals ; 
and  in  the  victors  against  the  conquered  generally,  not  only  in 
man,  but  also  in  animals.  One  can  even  observe  similar  nerve 
phenomena  in  insects  (ants),1  when  a  large  number  of  larger 
and  stronger  insects  have  been  impudently  taken  by  surprise 
by  a  few  weaker  ones,  and  run  away  without  resistance  and 
without  pluck,  leaving  their  larvae  and  young,  whom  they 
usually  nurse  so  carefully,  in  a  cowardly  way.  This  is  a  very 
striking  suggestion  action;  but,  however  tempting  they  are, 
one  should  not  attribute  a  too  literal  importance  to  these  analo- 
gies. They  are,  after  all,  only  analogous  processes. 

One  must  not  regard  the  real  influencing  of  a  person  by 
means  of  pure  reasoning  as  suggestion.  But  there  is  a  large 
number  of  transition  stages  possible  between  these  actions  and 
those  of  perfectly  unconscious  true  suggestions. 

The  historical  and  ethnological  importance  of  suggestion  is 
much  greater  than  one  supposes.  I  must  refer  my  readers  to 
the  estimable  work  of  Professor  Otto  Stoll,  "  Suggestion  and 
Hypnotism  in  the  Psychology  of  the  Nations."2  Its  action 

iForel:  "Fourmis  de  la  Suisse,"  1877,  p.  314,  and  "The  Psychical  Capa- 
bilities of  Ants,"  p.  37.  (Miinchen,  1901.) 

2 Professor  Otto  Stoll:  "Suggestion  and  Hypnotism  in  the  Psychology 
of  the  Nations,"  Leipzig,  1905,  second  edition.  (K.  F.  Koehler,  antiquarian.) 


140  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

shows  itself  in  all  races,  in  all  grades  of  culture,  and  plays  an 
important  part  especially  in  religion  and  mysticism.  Stoll  has 
shown  that  this  is  so,  very  strikingly.  One  can  trace  it  phylo- 
genetically  from  the  lowest  developed  races  down  to  the  various 
species  of  the  animal  kingdom. 

An  extraordinary  historical  case,  in  which  autosuggestive 
hallucination  played  a  part  of  world-wide  importance,  is  met 
with  in  Joan  of  Arc,  the  maid  of  Orleans.  I  refer  the  reader 
to  the  work  of  Dr.  J.  Zuercher  on  this  important  subject.1  I 
am  of  opinion  that  Joan  of  Arc  was  a  genial  and  ethically 
disposed  hysteric.  Her  hallucinations  did  not  depend  on  a 
mental  disturbance,  but  on  continuous  autosuggestions,  which 
were  produced  by  her  religious  and  patriotic  exaltation. 

As  we  have  seen,  suggestion  is  of  practical  importance  for 
medical  therapy.  Habits  are  often  induced  autosuggestively, 
and  removed  suggestively. 

And  thus  I  am  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the  pedagogic 
importance  of  suggestion.  Those  who  do  not  understand  sug- 
gestion will  be  terrified  by  the  thought  of  this.  But  he  who 
has  completely  grasped  it  will  know  how  to  employ  it  peda- 
gogically  in  two  ways: 

Firstly,  symptomatically,  one  might  almost  say  medically, 
in  order  to  combat  bad  and  harmful  habits  and  perverse  quali- 
ties of  character.  In  this  case  it  must  be  applied  in  the  same 
way  as  in  therapeutic  hypnosis,  and,  as  in  the  latter  case,  one 
must  contrive  to  only  use  it  as  long  as  it  is  necessary,  and  not 
ad  infinitum.  One  will  have  to  use  all  means  to  make  the 
result  a  lasting  one,  which  will  propagate  itself  by  properly 
guided  autosuggestions. 

Secondly,  the  suggestion  regarded  from  another  point  of 
view  becomes  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  future  problems 
of  pedagogism  and  of  developmental  psychology.  Every  one 
is  aware  that  some  teachers,  parents,  guardians,  etc.,  can  achieve 
anything  they  please  with  children,  while  others  attain  just 
the  reverse,  and  only  reap  disobedience  and  contradictions. 
This  depends  simply  on  the  fact  that  the  children  are  subjected 
to  the  unconscious  suggestion  action  of  the  first-named,  but  not 
1  Dr.  Josephine  Zuercher  (Leipzig:  Oswald  Mutze,  1895). 


PEDAGOGIC   SUGGESTION  141 

of  the  latter.  Kepeated  unskillful  threats,  dissatisfaction  and 
complaints  that  the  authority  (e.g.,  of  a  father)  is  not  respected, 
powerless  exhibition  of  feelings,  especially  of  the  feeling  of 
anger — in  short,  revealing  of  weaknesses — are  things  which, 
as  is  well  known,  produce  disobedience,  the  spirit  of  contra- 
diction, and,  in  consequence,  obstinacy  toward  education  in 
children.  On  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  knows  how  to  teach 
obedience  as  a  natural,  unavoidable  thing,  and  who  puts  what 
he  teaches  above  all  possibility  of  dispute,  does  nothing  else 
than  suggest  instinctively.  He  will  be  instinctively  obeyed. 
Exaggeration  of  this  method,  especially  continuation  of  it  in 
children  up  to  an  advanced  age,  breeds  the  danger  of  fostering 
the  belief  in  authority  and  dependence  on  others.  Reasonable 
discussion  must  be  introduced  into  the  mind  at  a  suitable  time 
and  in  a  proper  place.  Once  one  has  grasped  that  the  key  of 
these  mental  actions  and  reactions  in  children  is  to  be  found  in 
the  proper  application  of  suggestion,  pedagogism  will  learn 
to  use  that  which  has  hitherto  been  applied  unconsciously  and 
irregularly  with  consciousness  and  system,  and  will  derive  enor- 
mous benefits  from  it.  Above  all,  one  must  suggest  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  school  an  awakening  of  interest  for  the  school  to 
the  children  by  means  of  love  and  enthusiasm,  just  as  the  hypno- 
tist wins  his  patients  over  for  himself.  The  secret  of  the 
successes  of  Dr.  Lietz's  new  reform  school  in  Ilsenburg- 
Haubinda,  of  Dr.  Reddie's  school  in  Abbotsholme,  and  Messrs. 
Zuberbuehler  and  Frei's  school  in  Glarisegg  (Switzerland), 
depends  in  part  on  this,  while  the  old  school  system,  on  the 
contrary,  often  suggests  antipathy  for  the  school  and  teachers 
to  the  pupils. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the  pedagogic  value  of 
suggestion,  one  must  remember  that  the  character  of  a  person 
at  every  epoch  of  his  existence  is  the  product  of  two  component 
complexes,  inheritance  and  adaptation.  One  usually  makes 
the  mistake  of  attempting  to  trace  everything  from  one  or  other 
only  of  those  two  complexes.  The  inherited  disposition  forms 
the  deeper,  more  tenacious  power;  but  it  may  be  implanted 
at  times  more  deeply,  and  at  times  less  deeply.  In  the  latter 
case,  it  is  possible  to  tackle  it  by  means  of  consistent  educa- 


142  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

tional  (adapted)  action  all  the  more  successfully,  so  that  on 
being  repeated  over  again  these  actions  may  become  habit  or 
secondary  automatisms.  Suggestion  can  step  in  here  and  work 
successfully. 

I  must  refer  in  this  place  to  the  important  social  side  of  sug- 
gestion. One  realizes,  generally  speaking,  that  good  manners 
are  destroyed  by  bad  company,  and  that  young  people  and 
women  are  especially  easily  corrupted.  One  recognizes  the 
power  of  the  press,  of  fashion,  of  public  opinion,  of  ridicule, 
of  political  and  religious  fanaticism,  of  trashy  novels,  etc.  But 
one  overrates  the  capability  of  the  "  freewill "  of  the  "  free 
man "  to  protect  himself  against  these  mass  suggestions.  A 
closer  and  deeper  study  of  the  conditions  shows  up  the  terrible 
weakness  of  the  majority  toward  the  power  of  such  suggestions. 
How  can  a  poor  girl  escape  the  insidious,  cunning  traps  which 
the  accomplices  of  the  trading  procurer  sets,  assisting  himself 
with  every  psychological  lever  of  deception,  seduction,  want 
of  money,  alcohol,  and  intimidation  ?  How  does  the  conceited 
mass  of  voters  stand  toward  superficial  gossip,  and  the  fre- 
quently systemized  perversion  of  the  half-educated,  who  so 
often  take  upon  themselves,  as  journalists,  to  judge  customs  and 
to  teach  the  world  ?  And  how  does  it  stand  toward  the  machina- 
tions of  political  cliques  ?  We  know  by  experience  that  a  few 
cleverly  chosen  words,  and  not  the  argument  of  reason,  nor  even 
the  simple  truth,  suggest  to  the  great  mass,  who  are  just  like 
a  herd  of  sheep,  better  than  anything  else;  and  that  the  few 
more  reasoning  independent  people  who  will  not  follow  are 
left  in  the  lurch.  When  will  the  centra-suggestion  of  a  healthy 
human  morality  gain  the  upper  hand  over  the  destructive  sug- 
gestions of  our  immoral  politics  and  literature  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  the  out-of-date  religious  mysticism  on  the  other  ?  After 
all,  suggestion  does  not  act  in  its  pure,  true  form  in  all  these 
cases ;  it  is  combined  largely  with  more  or  less  conceived,  misun- 
derstood arguments  of  reason,  and,  above  all,  with  feelings  and 
sensations,  so  that  it  is,  as  a  rule,  difficult  to  distinguish  be- 
tween these  various  elements. 

16.  THE  NATUBE  OF  THE  ACTION  OF  SUGGESTION. — That 
which  we  know  psychologically  of  suggestion  lies,  on  the  one 


VOGT'S  HYPOTHETICAL  VIEWS  143 

hand,  in  the  sphere  of  consciousness,  and  in  the  observed  motor, 
vasomotor,  secretory,  and  similar  reactions,  on  the  other  hand. 
But  how  does  the  matter  stand  when  viewed  in  a  physiological 
light  ?  What  takes  place  physiologically  in  those  hypoconceived 
mechanisms  which  connect  the  suggestion  with  its  action,  and 
into  which  hypnosis  supplies  us  with  a  fleeting,  incomplete, 
merely  subjective,  and  therefore  psychological  insight  by  means 
of  sporadic  associations  of  superconceived  processes,  with  the 
contents  of  the  hypoconsciousness  ? 

Meynert,  Wernicke,  Munk,  Exner,  Sachs,  and  others,  have 
attempted,  on  the  evidence  of  the  results  obtained  in  the  anat- 
omy of  the  brain,  to  form  an  idea  of  the  mechanism  of  the 
neurokymes  of  the  brain.  The  synthetic  introspection  of  the 
latter  represents  consciousness.  The  contents  of  consciousness 
must  always  remain  fragmentary  to  us,  for  the  reasons  already 
given.  Physiology  alone  can  lead  to  a  doctrine  of  the  mechan- 
ism of  the  mind,  as  it  can  supply  a  complete  chain  of  argu- 
ment. It  is  true  that  we  do  not  possess  the  key  to  the 
mechanisms  of  life ;  but  we  can  attempt  to  explain  it,  notwith- 
standing, biologically  and  approximately,  with  the  help  of  con- 
clusions by  analogy.  In  my  opinion,  Oscar  Vogt  has  made  the 
best  attempt  to  explain  the  dynamism  of  the  brain.  I  propose 
to  give  extracts  from  his  explanation. 

Oscar  Vogt's  Hypothetical  Views1  on  the  Nature  and  Psycho- 
logical Import  of  Hypnotism. — Vogt,  in  his  excellent  work, 
calls  the  massed  mechanism  of  the  brain,  which  corresponds 
to  a  psychological  process,  "  constellation."  This  constellation 
is  the  product  of  conscious  and  unconscious  (hypoconscious) 
processes.  It  influences  both  the  quality  and  the  intensity  of 
the  central  excitability.  It  can  even  exceed  in  importance,  in 
virtue  of  its  assimilating  activity,  the  peripheral  stimulation 
for  the  quality  of  the  central  excitability.  The  apparent  free- 
dom of  will  is  based  on  this  sort  of  thing. 

Vogt  accepts  parallelism  terminologically,  but  interprets  it 
in  the  light  of  monistic  identity,  and  not  of  dualism.  Peri- 
pheral stimuli  of  too  powerful  a  nature  produce  unconsciousness 

1  Oscar  Vogt :  "  Contributions  to  our  Knowledge  of  the  Nature  and  Psycho- 
logical Import  of  Hypnotism,"  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus,  1895-1896  (Leip- 
zig: Ambrosius  Earth). 


144  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

instead  of  hypersesthetic  phenomena  of  consciousness  in  response 
to  a  cutting  off  caused  by  vasomotor  changes.  Our  qualitative 
and  quantitative  psychological  powers  of  differentiating  are 
based  on  a  passive  becoming  conscious  of  physiological  differ- 
ences (in  this,  for  example,  Vogt  accepts  the  identity  theory). 

Wherever  phenomena  of  consciousness  appear,  these  tend  at 
once  to  become  synthetic  processes,  so  that  man  from  his  youth 
upward  already  possesses  complex  psychical  phenomena.  The 
synchronous  irritability  of  the  individual  elements  of  the  con- 
tents of  consciousness  leads  to  their  association,  which  becomes 
fixed  by  habit.  A  primary  degree  of  fixation  is  necessary  for 
a  psychological  synthesis.  Further  fixation  causes  recognition, 
and  still  further  fixation  causes  associative  reproduction  capa- 
bility. There  are  simultaneous  and  consecutive  associations. 

Wundt  uses  the  term  "  assimilation  "  for  the  fact  that  in  the 
whole  psychological  area  of  the  memory  of  man  only  those  sen- 
sations occur  which  are  associated  by  the  co-irritation  of  the  im- 
pressions of  memory,  and  not  isolated  sensations  in  general. 
For  this  reason  new  elements  in  alternating  sequence  are  inter- 
mingled with  the  same  conception  at  each  repetition,  and  the 
conception  is  in  consequence  never  quite  identical — e.g.,  the 
conception  of  a  rose. 

The  principle  of  psychical  synthesis  is  thus  that  complete 
complexes  of  elements  of  consciousness  are  never  bound  together 
or  intermingled,  but  only  the  individual  elements.  In  order 
that  it  can  be  reproduced,  an  association  must  therefore  be 
fixed,  in  so  far  that  it  can  be  excited  in  its  entirety  from 
each  of  its  elements. 

Vivid  pictures  of  the  imagination  are  qualitatively  much 
more  nearly  related  to  sensations  in  highly  dissociable  persons. 

The  intensity  of  a  conception  depends  on  the  intensity  of  the 
excitability  of  the  individual  elements,  while  its  clearness 
(Lehmann)  depends  on  the  extent  of  the  same — i.e.,  on  the 
number  of  elements  excited  at  the  same  time.  These  are  there- 
fore different  things. 

Next,  psychical  energy  of  an  individual  forms  a  constant 
under  constant  conditions  of  nutrition.  This  may  be  taken  to 
mean,  for  example,  that  one  cannot  suffer  intensely  from  tooth- 


VOGT'S  HYPOTHETICAL  VIEWS  145 

ache,  and  at  the  same  time  follow  a  play  intently.  The  intensity 
of  one  process  necessitates  a  weakening  of  that  of  others. 

Associations  move  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  energy,  in 
the  order  arranged  by  habit,  always  in  the  direction  of  least 
resistance.  When  this  appears  not  to  be  the  case,  the  cause  is 
hypoconceived. 

Vogt  explains  attention  as  follows:  The  center  whose  meta- 
bolism is  increasing  receives  functional  stimuli  from  the  centers 
whose  metabolism  is  decreasing.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  vastly 
more  peripheral  stimuli  for  the  senses  travel  up  to  the  brain 
than  are  recognized  (felt).  These  numerous  neurokymes, 
arriving  in  the  brain,  are  all  deflected  to  the  situation  where 
a  marked  excitability  is  taking  place,  and  the  latter  becomes 
thereby  increased.  If  two  centers  are  equally  excited,  the 
neurokymes  arriving  are  divided  correspondingly.  If  a  cer- 
tain center  (A)  is  alone  excited,  and  a  neurokyme  from  without 
arrives  suddenly  at  a  second  center  (B),  exciting  it  intensely, 
all  the  neurokymes  will  be  deflected  to  B,  and  the  excitability 
of  A  will  diminish.  In  this  way  the  attention  will  be  diverted 
from  A  to  B.  Illusions  can  be  produced  in  a  similar  manner. 
For  example,  suppose  that  a  person  is  expecting  some  one.  A 
sound  is  heard,  and  this  person  believes  that  he  can  recognize 
the  footsteps  of  the  person  expected.  The  marked  expectation 
has  so  strengthened  the  impression  of  the  memory  of  the  well- 
known  footsteps  that  it  drowns  the  real  noise  with  which  it  is 
assimilated,  and  thus  causes  the  illusion. 

These  considerations  induced  Vogt  to  revert  to  the  old  views 
of  Schiff,  which  state  that  deflections  of  the  energy  of  stimula- 
tion cause  neurodynamic  inhibitions,  and  these  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  compensation  phenomena  for  conduction  taking  place 
in  other  directions.  In  this  way  it  is  not  only  the  situation  of 
the  stimulation,  but  also  its  intensity,  which  influences  the 
quality  of  the  action.  Freusberg  found,  by  way  of  example, 
that  a  mild  stimulus  to  the  penis  of  a  dog  produces  an  erection, 
but  a  stronger  stimulus  to  the  erected  penis  leads  to  relaxation, 
but  causes  at  the  same  time  a  reflex  excitation  of  a  leg  move- 
ment. This  is  due  to  a  part  of  the  stronger  congested  energy 
of  stimulation  being  radiated  from  the  erection  center,  and 


146  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

reaching  in  this  way  the  center  for  the  reflex  excitation  of  the 
leg.  Since  the  latter  is  more  strongly  excitable,  all  the  neuro- 
kymes  then  travel  to  it,  and  the  penis  in  consequence  relaxes. 
A  number  of  similar  facts  support  Vogt's  view  that  the  increased 
intensity  of  attention  is  referred  to  an  opening  up  of  a  path 
by  attracted  neurokymes. 

Vogt  further  adopts  Bering's  view  that  all  psychical  phenom- 
ena, movements  included,  are  caused  by  peripheral  stimuli, 
and  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  pure  centrogenous  movement. 
Hering  showed,  for  example,  that  a  decapitated  frog  becomes 
completely  motionless  as  soon  as  one  divides  all  the  posterior 
spinal  roots.  But  the  direction  in  which  the  peripheral  neuro- 
kymes travel  to  the  central  nervous  system  naturally  depends  on 
their  constellation  for  the  moment. 

Dissociations  are  constellations  deflected  from  the  usual  nor- 
mal condition  during  waking.  Here  one  meets  with  all  sorts 
of  transitions,  from  a  mild  warping  of  judgment  to  dreaming. 

The  diminution  of  excitability,  which  we  call  inhibition, 
takes  the  shape  normally  of  a  change  of  nutrition. 

A  lessening  of  metabolism  causes  exhaustion,  so  that  the 
dissimilation  overbalances  the  assimilation.  Anaemia  of  the 
brain,  which  is  always  associated  with  sleep,  causes  a  similar 
process,  but  is  introduced  by  tiring  (dissociation).  In  a  disso- 
ciated dream  the  neurokyme  is  congested  in  one  center,  as  a 
result  actually  of  this  anaemia.  This  prevents  the  awakening 
of  associated  centra-conceptions,  and  increases  the  intensity  of 
the  dream. 

The  Theory  of  Sleep. — I  showed  the  inadequateness  of  the 
theories  which  attempted  to  refer  sleep  to  a  collection  of  ex- 
haustion products — lactic  acid  (Preyer) — or  which  tried  to 
measure  the  depth  of  sleep  by  the  intensity  of  the  stimulus 
necessary  to  awaken  (Kohlschuetter),  as  far  back  as  the  third 
edition  of  this  book.  I  have  shown,  as  the  earlier  experts  on 
dreams  (Maury,  inter  alia)  have  done,  that  the  brain  can  be 
exhausted  without  sleeping,  can  sleep  without  being  exhausted, 
and  that  faint  stimuli  may  awaken  when  strong  ones  fail.  In 
brief,  I  showed  that  sleep  undoubtedly  is  connected  with  sug- 
gesting mechanisms  which  are  adapted  in  quite  another  way, 


VOGT'S  THEORY    OF   SLEEP  147 

even  though  they  are  favored  by  exhaustion.  Oscar  Vogt  now 
develops  a  very  ingenious  view,  which  in  general  is  in  accord- 
ance with  this,  only  it  takes  physiological  conditions  further 
into  account. 

We  have  seen  that  the  excitability  of  centers  increases  by 
conduction  if  no  other  stronger  excitability  acts  by  deflection. 
There  are  certain  centers,  among  which  the  reflex  center  for 
the  closure  of  the  orbicularis  oculi  muscle  may  be  cited,  whose 
excitability  tends  to  call  forth  the  neurodynamic  processes 
occurring  on  going  to  sleep.  When  the  cerebral  cortex  is  less 
excited  as  a  result  of  exhaustion,  the  neurokymes  are  guided 
to  those  centers.  But  they  may  also  be  excited  by  association, 
suggestion,  etc.,  and  sleep  may  be  produced  in  this  way.  One 
of  the  vasomotor  reflex  centers,  however,  is  still  more  important. 
This  center,  when  excited,  causes  an  increasing  anaemia  of  the 
brain,  and  this  produces  dullness,  etc.,  and  sleep.  Mosso  has 
proved  beyond  doubt  that  an  anaemia  of  the  brain  is  associated 
with  sleep.  But  observation  and  hypnotism  particularly  prove 
that  this  can  be  produced  by  means  of  associated  reflexes,  and 
not  only  by  means  of  exhaustion.  In  consequence,  such  a  vaso- 
motor center  is  a  direct  postulate.  It  is  a  general  law  of  our 
life  that  increased  activity  is  associated  with  hypersemia,  and 
lessened  activity  with  anaemia.  But  this  law  can  only  be 
brought  into  line  with  the  facts  of  sleep  by  the  help  of  the 
supposition  mentioned  above.  Vogt  gives  a  number  of  further 
proofs  for  this.  In  this  way  it  is  explained  why  undressing, 
the  bedroom,  the  sight  of  some  one  yawning,  the  accustomed 
hour,  and  similar  sensations  or  conceptions,  induce  the  concep- 
tion of  sleep,  and,  by  working  out  paths  for  themselves,  act  upon 
the  reflex  centers  of  sleep,  cause  the  eyes  to  close,  and  introduce 
the  anaemia  of  the  brain.  A  single  remembrance  or  an  associ- 
ation thought  associated  with  a  previous  going  to  sleep  may 
even  suffice  to  produce  this  action.  In  this  way  the  rapid 
achieving  of  sleep  by  suggestion  is  perfectly  explained.  It  is 
not  necessary  for  the  person  going  to  sleep  to  be  conscious  of 
the  act  of  going  to  sleep  or  its  causes,  for  the  goal  of  sleep, 
toward  which  all  the  neurokymes  aim,  is  not  the  conception 
of  sleep,  but  is  the  subcortical  sleep  center. 


148  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

The  functional  rest  of  sleep  repairs  cerebral  exhaustion, 
should  this  be  present!  The  excitability  of  the  cerebrum  is 
thereby  increased  agajn,  and  more  neurokymes  are  again  guided 
to  it.  The  anaemia  lessens,  and  one  awakens  gradually,  if  a 
stimulus  does  not  suddenly  produce  the  awakening  by  a  more 
powerful  conduction  of  neurokymes. 

It  is  primarily  the  cerebral  cortex  whose  excitability  is 
diminished  during  sleep.  In  the  early  stage  of  sleep  (tiredness) 
a  tendency  for  motor  expression  shows  itself,  probably  in 
consequence  of  the  simplification  of  the  reflex  arch.  In  a  higher 
degree  of  this  simplification,  before  functional  incapability 
sets  in,  the  so-called  catalepsy,  the  flexibilitas  cerea,  takes  place, 
in  which  a  limb  remains  in  any  given  position.  During  the 
condition  of  waking  all  constellations  are  purposefully  em- 
ployed, distributed,  and  active.  If  the  choice  of  attention  does 
not  keep  the  arm  raised,  the  neurokymes  will  be  required  else- 
where, and  it  (the  arm)  will  fall.  But  during  sleep  there  is  a 
degree  of  diminution  of  the  excitability  of  the  cortex  in  which 
the  neurokymes  arriving  can  no  longer  radiate  sufficiently  on 
the  association  tracks,  and  therefore  stagnate  at  the  direct 
terminals  of  the  centripetal  track.  The  excitability  of  the 
muscular  sense  can  evidence  itself  in  this  case  only  by  move- 
ment, but  this  takes  place  in  consequence  more  strongly.  Vogt, 
basing  his  opinion  on  probabilities,  concludes  that  this  phe- 
nomenon is  cortical,  and  that  it  causes  catalepsy  (fixation  of 
passive  positions). 

This  cataleptic  stage  lies  in  point  of  time  between  deep  sleep 
and  the  waking  condition;  it  occurs,  therefore,  before  waking 
and  after  going  to  sleep.  It  can  be  demonstrated  frequently 
in  normal  sleep,  but  its  duration  varies  considerably  in  differ- 
ent individuals.  The  degree  of  the  rigidity  also  varies.  Lie- 
beault  has  shown  that  one  can  produce  it  in  normal  sleep  by 
repeatedly  raising  the  arm. 

The  next  stage  is  that  of  complete  relaxation,  in  which  the 
neurokymes  diminish  in  the  cortical  muscular  sense,  and  with- 
draw from  the  subcortical  centers. 

Vogt  quotes  the  experiments  of  Bubnoff,  Heidenhain,  and 
Janet  in  support  of  his  view.  The  cortical  nature  of  catalepsy 


KINDS   OF   DREAMS  149 

and  of  hysterical  anaesthesia  is  deduced  from  these  experi- 
ments. 

The  associations  of  ideas  in  dreams  are  of  a  passive  nature, 
and  acquire  the  subjective  character  of  impressions  (Vogt 
always  uses  this  word  for  perceptions  as  well).  Voluntary 
thinking  ceases,  and  the  connection  between  the  conceptions 
becomes  loosened;  the  person  going  to  sleep  becomes  increas- 
ingly passive  toward  them.  From  this  a  kind  of  subjective 
flight  of  thoughts  arises,  which,  however,  corresponds  in  reality 
to  an  inhibition  of  thinking  (Ashaffenburg,  Kraepelin),  and  to 
a  slowed  course  of  ideas. 

Vogt  argues  against  me  because  I  accept  an  uninterrupted 
dreaming  during  sleep,  and  believes  that  the  fact  that  one  finds 
oneself  in  the  midst  of  a  dream  chain  if  one  is  suddenly  awak- 
ened out  of  a  deep  sleep  proves  nothing.  This  could  take  place 
so  quickly  that  the  commencement  of  the  dream  chain  could 
have  set  in  at  the  moment  of  being  awakened.  My  observations 
contradict  this  explanation,  because  the  suddenness  of  the  awak- 
ening was  too  great  to  have  possibly  allowed  sufficient  time  for 
so  many  dream  linkings.  The  tone  on  awakening  frequently 
became  interlaced  with  the  ending  of  the  dream  chain.  One 
cannot  lay  any  weight  on  the  subjective  statements  of  not  hav- 
ing dreamed,  on  account  of  the  usual  amnesia.  On  the  other 
hand,  one  must  admit  that  absolute  proof,  at  all  events  at  pres- 
ent, can  hardly  be  obtained. 

As  a  rule,  slightly  excitable  associations,  which  occupied  us 
considerably  in  the  past,  take  place  during  dreaming  (railway 
scenes,  examinations,  etc. ;  for  example,  I  often  dream  that  I 
am  an  assistant  or  the  Director  at  the  Asylum  again).  This  is 
due  to  the  diminished  excitability  of  the  cortex.  I  may  add 
that  peculiar  associations  insinuate  themselves  from  uncon- 
ceived  chains  into  the  dreaming  consciousness. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  dreams: 

(a)   The  usual  completely  dissociated,  diffuse  dreams. 

(&)  The  contracted  dreams  of  somnambulism,  which  corre- 
spond to  a  contracted  consciousness  or  monoidism.  In  this  the 
neurokymes  stagnate  in  a  definite  area.  One  might  almost  say 
that  a  partial  waking  during  general  sleep  takes  place.  In 


150  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

this  special  area  even  the  perception  and  the  thinking  increase 
not  only  in  clearness,  but  also  in  intensity.  If  one  follows  the 
same  phenomenon  still  further,  one  meets  with  a  partial  sleep 
during  the  general  condition  of  waking  (see  pp.  148  and  149). 

Thus  the  diminution  of  the  excitability  of  the  cortex  during 
sleep  is  irregular.  That  small  stimuli  are  capable  of  awakening 
when  strong  ones  fail  is  explained  by  this.  In  such  a  case  the 
neurokyme  of  the  stimuli  meets  with  associations  which  are  but 
slightly  diminished  in  their  excitability,  and  thus  a  partial 
awakening  may  take  place  while  the  general  sleep  is  continued. 
We  meet  with  this  in  hypnotic  "  rapport."  The  general 
anaemia  of  the  brain  prevents  the  radiation,  and  causes  the 
locally  awakened  elements  of  consciousness  to  be  abnormally 
strongly  excited  by  the  stagnating  neurokymes.  The  condition 
of  consciousness  of  the  systematic  partial  awakening  is  the  same 
as  that  of  somnambulic  dream. 

Vogt  further  shows  the  great  difference  between  the  dreams 
(a)  and  (6).  The  dreams  in  (&)  are  connected  with  perfectly 
ordered  actions.  On  the  other  hand,  the  most  complicated 
actions  are  dreamed  of  in  (a),  but  are  not  carried  out.  This  is 
due  to  the  diffuse  dissociation,  which  does  not  allow  any  ordered 
sequence  of  conceptions  of  movements  to  arise.  The  action  is 
suddenly  accomplished  in  the  consciousness,  but  there  has  been 
an  omission  of  the  conditions  of  its  having  taken  place.  It  is 
quite  different  in  (6),  where  the  whole  localized  functionally 
isolated  chain  from  the  sense  to  the  cortex  and  from  the  cortex 
to  the  muscle  is  accomplished  perfectly  regularly. 

Vogt  shows  further  that  the  ethical  associations  often,  but 
not  always,  remain  normally  connected  in  somnambulists  and 
revolt  against  criminal  demands,  while  one  usually  murders, 
steals,  etc.,  with  absolutely  defective  ethics,  in  the  ordinary 
dreams. 

A  chain  of  actions  is  not  infrequently  continued  after  sleep 
has  set  in  (a  coachman  doses  off  and  drives  on).  I  myself 
when  a  student  have  fallen  to  sleep  during  a  dry  lecture,  and 
have  continued  to  write,  even  beginning  to  write  down  frag- 
ments of  dreams. 

Feelings. — According  to  Vogt,  feelings  are  of  no  value  for 


FEELINGS  151 

the  production  of  normal  hypnosis,  but  are  of  importance  for 
the  production  of  hysterical  hypnosis  and  of  the  hypnosis  of 
fright. 

Feelings  appear  usually  as  accompanying  phenomena  (shade 
of  feeling)  of  the  intellectual  elements.  By  mood  (Stimmung} 
one  understands  the  collective  condition  of  feelings  at  any  given 
time.  By  the  term  "attitude  of  mood"  one  means  the  disposition 
or  tendency  of  the  frame  of  mind  to  react  on  the  appearance  of 
one  or  other  of  the  intellectual  elements  with  this  or  that  mood. 

We  are  not  able  to  localize  feelings  in  space.  From  this 
fact,  Vogt  thinks  that  he  can  agree  with  Lipps  that  they  cannot 
be  deflected  from  sensations.  I  do  not  consider  that  this  argu- 
ment can  hold  good,  for  pure  intellectual  abstract  things  also 
exist  which  are  not  in  themselves  capable  of  being  localized  as 
far  as  place  is  concerned  (let  me  instance  the  idea  of  inde- 
pendence or  that  of  the  pitch  of  a  musical  tone),  and  can,  not- 
withstanding, be  deflected  from  sensations. 

Feelings  must  be  regarded  as  being  elementary.  While 
Hoeffding  and  others  only  accept  two  fundamental  qualities  of 
feeling,  inclination  and  disinclination,  Wundt  accepts  three 
opposite  pairs  of  qualities:  (1)  inclination — disinclination; 
(2)  excitability — inhibition;  (3)  tension — relaxation. 

Vogt's  attempts  with  an  exceptionally  suitable  person,  who 
had  been  educated  up  to  this  for  a  considerable  time,  only 
yielded  at  first  two  sharply  differentiated  series  of  opposing 
feelings,  which  appear  markedly  in  the  contracted  condition 
of  consciousness  in  hypnosis,  and  which  can  be  analyzed:  (1) 
Pleasant — unpleasant;  (2)  elevating  or  exhilarating  or  making 
easier — relaxing  or  depressing  or  rendering  sad. 

Vogt  calls  the  first  series  hedonistic,  and  the  second  series 
sthenic.  They  correspond  to  the  first  and  second  quality  pair 
of  Wundt's  classification.  While  both  series  took  place  approxi- 
mately parallel  with  pressure  and  pain,  this  was  less  marked 
with  taste  and  smell,  and  was  not  the  case  with  stimulation  of 
hearing.  In  the  last-named  case  they  were  rather  inversely 
proportional. 

One  gathers  from  Vogt's  very  extensive  experiments  that 
the  weakest  grades  of  the  intellectual  elements  (sensations)  are 


152  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

quite  indifferent  (without  accentuation  of  feeling).  In  the 
somewhat  higher  grades  an  accentuation  of  inclination  appears, 
which  increases;  in  a  greater  intensity  the  inclination  again 
diminishes  and  a  second  indifference  point  appears,  which  in 
its  turn  is  followed  by  disinclination  in  still  further  increased 
intensity.  Even  in  sensation  of  pain  there  is  behind  the  thresh- 
old of  inclination  "  a  pleasant  pain,"  although  the  sensation 
of  pain,  as  Max  von  Frey  has  shown  and  Vogt  has  confirmed, 
is  qualitatively  different  from  the  sensation  of  pressure.  The 
same  applies  also  to  the  sthenic  series. 

When  one  is  not  dealing  with  direct  sensations,  but  only 
with  the  reproduction  of  the  same  by  conception,  the  intellectual 
elements  naturally  awaken  the  shades  of  feeling  which  were 
formerly  associated  with  them. 

Persistence  of  emotional  elements  after  the  disappearance 
of  the  associated  intellectual  elements  can  be  demonstrated. 
But  one  is,  of  course,  only  dealing  with  the  conscious  field, 
and  intellectual  elements  may  persist  hypoconsciously.  If  one 
succeeds  in  rendering  the  intellectual  element  conscious  again, 
one  heightens  the  feelings.  Vogt's  excellent  experiments  there- 
fore show: 

1.  That  the  feeling  in  the  consciousness  at  least  may  outlive 
its  intellectual  substratum. 

2.  That  feelings  can  enter  into  the  consciousness  even  with- 
out an  intellectual  substratum. 

Still,  the  latter  only  applies  for  the  psychical  series  (the 
introspective  side)  ;  a  physiological  process  is  always  uncon- 
ceived  in  the  background. 

Every  feeling  is  accompanied  by  a  deflection  of  nervous 
stimulation  energy  in  the  transcortical  and  subcortical  tracks, 
and  is  produced  slightly  later  than  its  intellectual  substratum. 
The  feelings  are  therefore,  no  doubt,  psychical  parallel  processes 
of  the  deflection  processes  of  the  energy  of  nervous  stimulation. 
In  the  language  of  the  identity  theory,  I  should  say  that  feel- 
ings represent  the  introspection  of  the  deflection  processes  of 
the  energy  of  nervous  stimulation.  Since  such  deflections  take 
place  in  every  area  of  the  brain,  there  can  be  no  localization 
for  the  feelings. 


MECHANISM   OF   SUGGESTION  153 

Vogt  deduces  from  this  that  a  desire  is  contained  in  every 
feeling,  or  that  the  will  manifests  itself  through  the  feelings, 
and  is  not  materially  different  from  feeling.  Vogt's  work  is, 
unfortunately,  still  incomplete;  but  it  points  out  the  way  in 
which  one  can  use  hypnotism  for  psychological  investigation, 
and  throws  a  luminous  light  on  to  the  whole  question  of  the 
relation  of  psychology  to  the  physiology  of  the  brain. 

In  the  third  edition  of  his  work  Vogt  states  the  following 
in  special  relation  to  the  mechanism  of  suggestion: 

"  We  call  every  deflection  which  diminishes  the  irritability 
of  the  individual  neurones  as  such,  as  a  rule,  inhibition.  We 
speak  of  the  inhibition  causing  the  psychical  balance  by  means 
of  the  association  of  ideas.  An  hysterical  person  complained 
to  me  of  motor  weakness.  His  dynamometric  grasp  was 
1  =  97.  I  thought  that  this  was  not  so  bad.  From  this  time 
onward  his  highest  grasp  was  50,  and  the  average  was  only 
28.  What  had  taken  place  ?  The  track  between  the  movement 
conception  of  the  grasp  and  that  of  the  motor  weakness  had 
become  more  strongly  conductible  by  means  of  an  irritation 
issuing  from  the  center  for  the  latter.  A  part  of  the  neurokyme 
arriving  at  the  center  for  the  movement  conception  was  deflected 
from  this  time  into  this  track.  I  was  also  enabled  to  observe 
the  reverse.  A  psychopath  got  the  hypochondriacal  conception 
that  he  was  very  weak.  This  conception  paralyzed  his  grasp 
by  deflection  so  much  that  he  could  only  press  1  =  65  and 
r  =  55.  I  then  produced  absolute  anesthesia  for  the  affected 
arm  by  waking  suggestion.  The  grasp  was  naturally  reduced  to 
r  =  0.  I  then  suggested  to  him  that  amount  of  feeling  to 
give  him  free  movement.  He  pressed  r  =  115  and  1  =  120, 
having  at  the  same  time  a  numbed  feeling  in  his  joints.  I  had 
caused  a  localized  dissociation  by  means  of  the  first  suggestion. 
As  a  result  of  a  constellation  favoring  me,  the  dissociation — i.e., 
the  cutting  off  of  the  deflection — persisted  in  the  second  sug- 
gestion for  the  hypochondriacal  conception.  The  track  be- 
tween the  center  corresponding  to  the  latter  and  that  of  the 
movement  conception  did  not  deflect  again,  or,  as  one  can  also 
express  oneself,  the  hypochondriacal  conception  was  for  the 
time  being  forgotten.  The  higher  centers  further  inhibit  the 


154  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

lower  ones  by  such-like  deflections  of  a  part  of  a  neurokyme.1 
In  the  case  in  which  the  deflection  is  rendered  impossible  on 
account  of  functional  or  organic  changes,  the  motor  discharge 
of  the  neurokyme,  which  now  only  passes  through  one  lower 
center,  increases  in  intensity  and  rapidity. 

"  In  opposition  to  inhibition,  one  calls  the  increase  of  the 
excitability  of  a  center  by  conduction  of  neurokymes  along  vari- 
ous tracks  '  simulation  increase,'  or  opening  up  of  a  path 
(Bahnung  of  Exner).  I  suggest  to  a  person  that  his  forehead 
shall  become  warm.  I  shall  succeed  in  this  suggestion  more 
easily  if  I  place  my  hand  on  his  forehead  at  the  same  time,  for 
I  stimulate  the  corresponding  center  for  the  sensation  of  touch 
by  laying  my  hand  on  the  forehead.  This  is  then  connected 
with  the  corresponding  center  for  the  sensation  of  warmth 
through  a  track  which  conducts  well  as  the  result  of  numerous 
previous  simultaneous  excitabilities.  The  neurokyme  produced 
by  my  touching  the  forehead  takes  this  course,  and  acts  by  open- 
ing out  a  new  path. 

"  All  those  inhibitions  and  the  opening  out  of  new  paths 
to  which  the  course  of  all  nervous  processes,  and  also  the  whole 
phenomena  of  suggestion,  are  traceable  are  produced  in  this 
way.  The  art  of  the  hypnotist  consists  in  the  suitable  applica- 
tion of  such  inhibitions  and  opening  out  of  new  paths,  and 
the  nature  of  the  training  consists  in  the  reaction  of  such-like 
influencing  on  the  more  widely  distributed  association  of  ideas. 

"  Let  us  look  at  the  mechanism  of  catalepsy,  for  instance. 
Suppose  that  I  lift  the  arm  of  a  hypnotized  person.  The  arm 
will  remain  in  the  position  in  which  I  have  put  it.  I  produced 
a  corresponding  sensation  of  movement  by  means  of  a  passive 
movement.  The  association  tracks  deflecting  the  conception 
of  this  movement  from  the  center  have  become  incapable  of 
conducting  on  account  of  the  hypnotic  dissociation.  As  a 
result  of  this,  the  neurokyme  excited  by  the  passive  movement 
of  the  arm  moves  mainly  along  the  track  leading  centrifugally 
from  the  center  for  the  said  conception  of  the  movement,  and 
causes  a  muscular  contraction  which  corresponds  to  the  pass- 

1 "  It  is  advisable  to  call  progressing  nerve  excitability,  as  long  as  we  do 
not  thoroughly  understand  its  nature,  by  some  unprejudiced  term,  such  as 
'neurokyme.'  "  (Forel,  "  Brain  and  Mind".) 


CATALEPSY  155 

ively  determined  position  of  the  arm.  The  hypnotized  person, 
provided  that  he  is  only  hypotactic,  '  feels  the  arm  suddenly 
becoming  rigid  after  it  had  been  raised.'  In  this  case  one  is 
dealing  with  Bernheim's  '  passive  catalepsy.'  It  differs  from 
an  active  movement  in  that  in  the  latter  case  the  movement 
conception  is  prompted  by  an  association  of  ideas  or  by  the 
'  will,'  while  in  our  case  it  is  prompted  by  a  peripheral  stimulus. 
Passive  catalepsy  always  occurs  when  the  movement  conception 
is  sufficiently  dissociated,  but  can  still  be  excited  sufficiently. 
If  the  sleep  has  become  so  deep  that  the  movement  conception 
can  no  longer  be  sufficiently  excited  by  means  of  a  peripheral 
stimulus,  a  passive  catalepsy  can  no  longer  be  achieved.  One 
meets  with  a  corresponding  depression  of  the  excitability  of 
movement  conceptions  in  hysterics,  whose  sensibility  for  touch 
has  become  diminished  in  one  or  other  extremity,  although  the 
kinsesthesia  is  retained.  The  extremity  in  this  case  is  paretic 
during  the  condition  of  waking,  and  is  extremely  difficult  to 
render  cataleptic  during  hypnosis.  Numerous  components 
which  open  out  new  paths  and  act  inhibitorily  take  part  in  the 
exciting  of  the  movement  conceptions.  Among  these,  the  stimu- 
lus opening  out  a  new  path  which  leads  from  the  center  for  the 
sensibility  of  touch  to  that  of  the  actual  muscular  sense  plays 
an  important  part. 

"  Other  stimuli  which  forge  new  paths  for  themselves,  there- 
fore, are  required  in  the  case  of  insufficient  dissociation  or 
depressed  excitability  of  the  movement  conception.  Here  one 
should  first  have  recourse  to  verbal  suggestion.  The  arm  which 
has  been  raised  falls  limply  to  the  side,  but  as  soon  as  I  declare 
that  the  arm  has  become  rigid  the  onset  of  the  corresponding 
muscular  contraction  is  felt.  The  influence  of  the  association 
of  ideas  which  finds  new  paths  for  itself  can  connect  itself 
both  with  a  passive  movement  and  with  a  verbal  suggestion. 
We  call  this  monoidism.  For  example,  I  hypnotize  a  subject. 
I  lift  his  arm  up.  This  falls  again  to  his  side.  I  awaken  the 
subject.  I  then  hypnotize  a  second  subject  in  the  presence  of 
the  first.  Here  the  catalepsy  succeeds  at  once.  On  hypnotizing 
the  first  subject  for  the  second  time,  I  succeed  in  producing 
catalepsy  also  in  him.  In  this  case  we  are  dealing  with  Bern- 


156  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

helm's  active  element  of  catalepsy.  The  following  conception 
connected  itself  with  the  sensation  of  the  passive  movement  of 
the  arm  in  this  subject :  f  The  holding  of  my  arm  in  this  posi- 
tion is  the  will  of  the  hypnotist,  but  I  must  do  as  he  wills.'  The 
sight  of  the  catalepsy  produced  by  the  hypnotist  in  the  second 
subject  created  a  conducting  track  in  the  brain  of  the  first  sub- 
ject leading  between  the  conception  of  the  hypnotist  and  the 
conception  of  the  movement  concerned.  If  the  hypnotist  now 
raises  the  arm  of  the  first  subject,  the  conception  of  the  hypno- 
tist at  once  appears  vividly.  Stimuli  issue  from  the  center 
of  this  conception  to  the  center  of  the  movement  conception. 
The  association  of  ideas  can  become  more  complicated  and 
more  similar  to  the  voluntary  movement  preceding  it  in  this 
connection,  and  one  cannot  find  fault  with  the  subject  if  he 
says  that  he  has  only  done  this  to  please  the  hypnotist. 

"  Forging  out  a  new  path  by  means  of  monoidism  plays  an 
important  part  in  all  complicated  suggestions,  and  especially 
in  waking  suggestions.  They  rob  even  the  i  rapport '  completely 
of  its  mystery.  If  the  mother  or  the  doctor  sleep  on  through 
a  loud  noise,  but  awaken  when  the  child  cries  or  when  the 
attendant  knocks,  we  are  only  dealing  with  excitability  which 
has  been  increased  by  former  opening  out  of  new  paths,  as  in 
the  case  in  '  rapport.' 

"  In  what  has  been  said  above  inhibition  has  been  deprived 
of  all  activity.  Inhibitions  are  compensation  symptoms  for 
the  deflections  which  have  arisen  elsewhere.  As  can  readily 
be  seen,  one  is  only  referring  to  those  inhibitions  (Wundt's 
neurodynamic  inhibitions)  here  which  represent  the  direct 
result  of  nervous  processes.  Apart  from  these,  there  exist  inhi- 
bitions (Wundt's  vasomotor  inhibitions)  frequently  interacting 
in  response  to  an  increase  of  the  resistance  in  the  conduction 
caused  by  tiring  or  by  some  alteration  of  the  metabolism. 
However,  as  long  as  we  are  dealing  with  the  neurodynamic 
and  not  with  the  nutritive  inhibitions,  we  should  be  able  to 
prove  the  existence  of  deflection  arising  in  other  ways — that  is, 
the  aspect  of  our  suggestion  which  opens  up  new  paths. 

"  Let  us  test  a  negative  hallucination  produced  by  waking 
suggestion.  I  give  the  suggestion  that  the  subject  will  not  see 


NEURODYNAMIC   INHIBITIONS  157 

me  on  awakening.  The  result  is  extremely  varied,  but  there 
is  always  a  parallelism  between  the  deflection  and  the  inhibition 
which  one  can  discern.  The  greater  the  inhibition  is,  the 
greater  will  be  the  deflection  also. 

"  One  person  sees  me  as  usual,  but  does  not  recognize  who  I 
am.  Here  there  is  a  dissociation  between  the  primary  and 
secondary  identification,  between  the  center  of  the  optical  pic- 
ture of  the  memory  and  that  of  the  comprehension.  This  disso- 
ciation is  a  picture  of  memory  which  has  long  since  been  formed, 
which  has  been  produced  by  former  excitations,  which  has  since 
existed  latent,  and  which  has  now  been  reawakened.  The 
influence  of  my  suggestion  opening  up  new  paths  caused  this 
dissociation  to  appear  in  the  foreground.  To  quote  one  possi- 
bility, my  subject  passed  me  by  one  day,  while  he  was  thinking 
out  a  problem,  without  recognizing  me.  I  then  crossed  over 
to  him,  and  found  out  in  conversation  that  he  had  not  recog- 
nized me.  At  the  time  when  my  subject  met  me  stimuli  trav- 
eled from  the  center  of  the  problem  occupying  him  along  all 
the  deflecting  tracks.  This  also  applied  to  the  optic  track.  We 
are  justified  in  assuming  a  direct  or  indirect  connection  of 
every  nervous  center  with  all  the  others.  The  association  fibers 
leading  to  the  center  for  the  problem  are  for  the  time  being 
naturally  more  easily  excitable  than  any  of  the  other  deflecting 
efferent  fibers  of  the  optic  center.  A  large  part  of  the  neuro- 
kyme  which  called  the  visual  impression  of  me  forth  was 
deflected  along  this  track.  As  a  result,  the  center  for  the 
conception  of  my  person  was  not  sufficiently  excited  to  render 
the  subject  conscious  of  it.  The  conception  of  the  non- 
recognition  was  first  connected  during  the  conversation  with 
the  center  for  the  conception  of  my  person,  and  then  with  the 
problem  by  means  of  simultaneous  associations.  However,  the 
conception  of  the  non-recognition  was  further  connected  to 
the  optical  center  through  the  center  of  the  problem.  If  I  now 
produce  the  conception  of  non-recognition  of  my  person  in  my 
subject  in  a  sufficiently  intense  manner,  an  excitability  travels 
through  the  center  for  the  problem  to  the  optical  center  for  my 
person,  and  forges  a  new  path  for  itself.  The  neurokyme, 
arriving  in  this  situation,  which  my  person  has  excited  in  the 


158  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

optic  nerve,  is  thus  deflected  without  arriving  in  the  usual  track 
in  sufficient  force  to  produce  conceived  parallel  processes  in 
this  place.  The  secondary  identification  is  wanting.  One  might 
state  in  opposition  to  this  that  the  subject  did  not  identify  any 
visual  impressions  secondarily  as  he  went  along  pondering. 
Then,  why  should  he  not  identify  now  the  visual  impressions 
which  he  received  from  me  ?  The  cause  lies  in  a  double  open- 
ing out  of  new  paths.  During  the  conversation  which  followed 
the  occurrence  the  visual  picture  of  me  was  vividly  excited. 
An  association  took  place  in  consequence  between  the  center 
for  the  problem  and  the  visual  impression  of  me,  which  was 
more  intimate  than  the  associations  between  the  former  and 
any  of  the  other  optical  centers.  To-day,  as  I  gave  him  the 
suggestion  not  to  see  me,  I  awakened  in  the  subject  the  optical 
components  of  the  conception  of  myself  very  vividly  by  means 
of  sight  directly,  as  I  had  done  before.  As  the  excitation 
arrived  at  the  optical  center  through  the  center  for  the  problem, 
the  association  fibers,  which  were  the  best  conductors,  naturally 
seized  a  large  proportion  for  themselves.  But  the  track  to  the 
center  for  my  person  belonged  primarily  to  these,  as  a  result 
of  the  stimuli  which  occurred  directly  before.  This  track, 
which  is  usually  of  secondary  importance,  becomes  for  the  time 
being  the  chief  track.  The  visual  impression  of  myself  is 
deprived  of  its  usual  associations  for  the  present.  It  becomes 
dissociated  by  the  opening  up  of  new  paths.  That  parts  of  the 
neurokymes  have  at  the  same  time  reached  other  portions  of  the 
optic  center  proves  that  suggestions  which  are  sensorily  con- 
nected can  now  succeed  much  more  easily.  I  only  need  to 
ask  the  subject  whether  he  recognize  this  person  or  that  object. 
This  sufiices  frequently  to  connect  the  optical  center  of  the 
object  to  the  deflection  system.  That  this  takes  place  more 
easily  in  connection  with  objects  which  are  closely  associated 
with  me  naturally  depends,  again,  on  the  opening  up  of  new 
paths  which  can  be  employed  by  them  at  the  time  when  the 
visual  impression  of  me  is  excited  in  the  subject.  One  could 
argue  further  in  objection  to  this  that  such  a  favorable  past 
history  is  not  usually  present  in  the  majority  of  experiments. 
That  is  certainly  true.  But  it  is  not  necessary  that  it  should 


NEUROKYME   DEFLECTIONS  159 

be  present.  Every  one  of  us  has  passed  by  persons  with  whom 
we  are  acquainted  without  recognizing  them.  The  conception 
of  me  which  the  subject  possessed  at  the  time  of  the  experiment 
contained  that  of  a  person  of  his  acquaintance  as  an  essential 
component.  The  track  was  therefore  present.  It  only  wanted 
strengthening. 

"  Every  dissociation  called  forth  by  suggestion  depends  on 
the  reappearance  of  earlier  conditions  of  conduction,  of  earlier 
constellations,  just  as  in  the  case  dealt  with  in  detail  in  the 
preceding  paragraph.  The  form  of  the  dissociation,  and  hence 
that  of  the  reception  of  the  suggestion,  is  therefore  connected 
singly  in  consequence  of  the  past  experiences  of  the  individual. 
Whichever  case  is  the  least  latent,  and  is  most  easily  excitable, 
now  appears  in  the  consciousness,  and  this  takes  place  so  vividly 
that  the  subject  believes  that  he  is  experiencing  it  at  the  time. 
A  second  subject  sees  as  if  he  had  a  mist  before  his  eyes, 
because  the  recollection  of  the  not  seeing  his  acquaintance  was 
most  easily  connected  with  dusk.  A  third  subject  declares  that 
he  is  blind.  The  conception  of  not  seeing  was  associated  most 
strongly  in  him  with  the  conception  of  blindness.  This,  then, 
became  vividly  excited.  The  conditions  of  conduction  became 
prominent  as  one  of  its  components  in  the  optic  center,  which 
conditions  corresponded  to  an  earlier  sensation  of  blackness. 
The  center  for  black  absorbed  such  a  proportion  of  the  neuro- 
kymes  arriving  that  the  latter  could  not  cause  any  further 
excitability  which  could  enter  into  the  consciousness. 

"  I  will  add  two  more  examples  of  hysterics,  in  proof  of  the 
correctness  of  the  principle  propounded. 

"  I  gave  to  one  of  these  the  suggestion  mentioned  above.  I 
disappeared,  but  she  still  saw  the  surroundings.  She  soon 
became  very  excited,  rushed  about  in  an  anxious  manner,  and 
exclaimed  that  she  was  becoming  ill  again,  she  could  not  think 
properly,  and  that  she  saw  everything  red.  The  patient  ex- 
plained then,  after  I  had  again  quieted  her,  without  having 
removed  the  recollection  from  her  mind,  l  her  illness  had  begun 
in  this  way;  she  had  not  been  able  to  see  anything:  it  had  all 
become  confused  and  mixed  in  front  of  her  eyes.  She  had  for- 
gotten all  about  it  till  now,  but  it  had  now  all  returned  to  her.' 


160  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

"  The  second  patient  was  brought  into  the  clinic  paralyzed 
and  dumb,  after  she  had  been  found  in  this  condition  in  the 
street.  One  day,  after  the  symptoms  had  disappeared,  I  gave 
her  the  waking  suggestion  of  complete  anaesthesia.  The  sugges- 
tion succeeded,  and  the  patient  became  correspondingly  para- 
lytic. Noticing  a  change  in  the  expression  of  the  patient's  face, 
I  removed  the  suggestion.  But  it  was  too  late.  The  patient 
moved  slowly  and  rigidly  about,  and  did  not  recognize  her 
surroundings.  She  was  again  dumb.  I  hypnotized  her,  and 
suggested  clearness  and  recollection  to  her.  The  patient  then 
acknowledged  that  she  had  believed  that  she  was  lying  in  the 
street.  The  memory  of  the  past  attack  had  thus  been  recalled. 

"  We  have  therefore  explained  the  mechanism  of  the  sub- 
jective complementation  of  all  suggestions  on  the  part  of  the 
hypnotized  person,  and  especially  the  constant  changing  condi- 
tion between  positive  and  negative  hallucinations  (see  p.  90), 
by  the  referring  back  of  the  inhibitions  to  other  paths  which 
have  been  opened  up. 

"  If  we  refer  all  suggestion  phenomena  back  to  one-sided 
paths  which  have  been  opened  up  this  would  have  to  hold  good 
for  the  most  important  suggestion  as  well — i.e.,  sleep.  Sleep 
is  produced  in  the  new-born  by  means  of  certain  dynamisms  of 
the  lower  brain  centers  depending  on  chemical  changes,  proba- 
bly a  vasomotor  character  chiefly.  Certain  sensations  which 
appear  more  strongly  as  the  consciousness  increases  (parallel 
with  the  development  of  the  cerebrum)  precede  this  reflex  sleep. 
These  are  increasing  bodily  and  mental  heaviness,  and  espe- 
cially the  feeling  of  heaviness  of  the  eyes,  which  is  chiefly 
excited  by  the  gradual  reflex  contraction  of  the  orbicularis 
muscles.  These  associate  themselves  gradually  to  form  a  com- 
plex, the  conception  of  sleep,  by  means  of  mutual  opening  up 
of  paths.  If  one  of  the  sensations  appear  at  a  later  date  in 
response  to  a  stimulus,  the  others  will  follow,  as  the  excitability 
will  spread  along  the  tracks  which  conduct  well.  Further- 
simultaneous  associations  then  lead  to  a  connection  in  the  tracks 
between  the  conception  of  sleep  and  the  lower  centers,  produc- 
ing sleep.  This  track  becomes  such  a  good  conductor  that 
ultimately  it  is  the  conception  of  sleep  which  produces  sleep. 


INHIBITION   AND   SLEEP  161 

We  thus  produce  a  general  dissociation,  caused  by  a  change  of 
the  metabolism,  by  means  of  suggestive  excitability  of  the  con- 
ception of  sleep.  We  create  in  this  way,  by  means  of  opening 
up  a  path,  a  suitable  soil  for  the  action  of  further  opening  up 
of  new  paths. 

"  In  this  manner  the  conception  of  sleep  obtains  a  purely 
motor  character.  But  this  is  only  a  special  case  of  a  general 
law  dealing  with  the  development  of  brain  mechanism.  In  the 
same  way  all  voluntary  movements  have  developed  from  invol- 
untary ones  by  the  sensations  of  reflex  movements  becoming  the 
causal  conception,  or  the  impulse  of  the  will.  The  doubt  with 
which  one  at  first  opposed  certain  suggestive  results  was  based 
on  the  fact  that  this  developmental  process  is  further  advanced 
than  one  could  suppose  from  the  position  of  our  anatomical 
knowledge.  These — e.g.,  the  influencing  of  the  intestinal  peri- 
stalsis, of  the  vasomotor  nerves,  and  of  the  secretions  of 
glands — are  established  beyond  all  doubt  at  the  present  time. 
Their  dependence  on  the  sensations  indicates  in  itself  a  con- 
nection of  their  centers  with  the  cerebrum.  The  doctrine  of 
suggestion  has  proved  that  those  dulled,  scarcely  conceived 
sensations,  have  already  become  weakly  motor  conceptions.  A 
prospective  insight  into  the  further  development  of  our  cere- 
brum, and  into  the  increasing  subordination  of  the  reflex  move- 
ments beneath  the  intelligence,  is  opened  out  by  this." 

Dr.  O.  Vogt  wishes  that  the  hypothetical  character  of  his 
theoretical  discussions  should  be  preserved,  and  I  therefore 
call  especial  attention  to  this  wish  here. 

Ed.  Claparede  expounds  a  "  Theorie  biologique  du  som- 
meil,"1  which  agrees  in  the  main  with  ours;  he  sums  up  the 
details  as  follows: 

"  Le  sommeil  n'est  pas  la  consequence  d'un  simple  arret  de 
f onctionnement ;  il  est  line  fonction  positive,  un  instinct,  qui 
a  pour  but  cet  arret  de  f  onctionnement ;  ce  n'est  pas  par  ce  que 
nous  sommes  intoxiques,  ou  epuises,  que  nous  dormons  mais 
nous  dormons  pour  ne  pas  1'e'tre." 

Claparede  therefore  endorses  what  is  being  said  in  this  chap- 

1  Ed.  Claparede,  "Th&me  biologique  du  sommeil."  {Archives  des  sciences 
physique  et  naturelles  de  Geneve,  March,  1904.) 


162  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

ter  and  in  Chapter  XIV  ("Suggestion  in  Animals").  It  is 
evident  that  if  sleep  sets  in  on  the  one  hand  actively  and  sug- 
gestively or  autosuggestively,  and  can  even  be  voluntarily 
brought  about,  and  on  the  other  hand  is  adapted  to  the  object 
of  the  reconstruction  or  assimilation  of  the  brain  neurons,  it 
must  have  been  developed  in  animals  phylogenetically  in  an 
instinctively  automatic  fashion. 

I  may  mention,  as  belonging  to  the  works  on  the  theory  of 
suggestion,  the  articles  by  Professor  Lipps,1  Dr.  Doellken,2  and 
Dr.  F.  Koehler,3  all  of  which  are  highly  valuable  and  interest- 
ing, and  have  been  placed  by  the  side  of  other  works  of 
O.  Vogt's  in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus.  Still,  these 
contributions  do  not  compare  with  Vogt's  attempts  at  explain- 
ing the  matter. 

1  Professor  Lipps,  "  Zur  Psychologic  der  Suggestion." 

a  Dr.  Doellken,  "Zur  Physiologie  der  Hypnose." 

»  Dr.  F.  Koehler,  "  Expenmentelle  Studien  auf  dem  Gebiet  des  hypnotischen 


Somnambulismus.' 


CHAPTEE   V 

SUGGESTION   AND  DISORDERS   OF   THE  MIND HYSTERIA 

OF  all  people  the  insane  are  the  least  suggestible,  and  those 
whose  mental  disturbances  are  severe  are  usually  absolutely 
unsuggestible.  All  hypnotists  of  experience  agree  in  this.  This 
is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  diseased  inhibitions  or  con- 
ditions of  stimulation  attain  such  an  intensity  in  the  brains  of 
the  insane,  that  they  are  no  longer  capable  of  being  dissociated 
by  means  of  suggestion.  And  if  one  should  succeed  in  spite 
of  this  in  hypnotizing  an  insane  person,  the  majority  of  the 
curing  suggestions  either  do  not  act  at  all,  or  only  act  transi- 
torily; those  suggestions  which  are  directed  against  delusions 
act  least  of  all.  A  lunatic,  Mrs.  X.,  for  example,  believed  that 
she  was  Mrs.  Y.  I  was  able  to  hypnotize  her,  and  succeeded 
in  suggesting  sleep,  appetite,  and  even  posthypnotic  hallucina- 
tions, successfully  to  her.  However,  when  I  declared  most 
energetically  during  the  hypnosis  that  she  knew  quite  well  that 
she  was  Mrs.  X.,  and  not  Mrs.  Y.,  that  the  latter  idea  had 
only  been  a  nonsensical  delusion  which  she  would  now  laugh 
at,  she  shook  her  head  in  negation  persistently  during  the  hyp- 
notic sleep  (as  long  as  I  stated  this),  showing  me  in  this  way 
that  she  could  not  accept  this  suggestion. 

One  uses  the  cerebrum  of  the  hypnotized  persons  as  an  in- 
strument when  employing  suggestion.  This  instrument  is 
functionally  deranged  in  the  insane,  and  for  this  reason  the 
suggestion  does  not  take  on.  The  failures  in  mental  diseases 
are  the  best  proofs  that  the  power  of  hypnosis  lies  in  the  brain 
of  the  hypnotized,  and  not  in  the  brain  of  the  hypnotist. 

So  much  that  is  untrue  has  been  said  of  the  relationship  of 
hypnotism  to  mental  disorders,  and  so  many  false  doctrines 
are  spread  about,  which  are  devoid  of  all  thorough  foundations 
of  observation,  and  which  are  based  only  on  unsupported  state- 
ments, that  it  will  be  worth  while  to  consider  the  subject  some- 

163 


164  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

what  more  closely.  I  cannot  emphasize  sufficiently  that  sug- 
gestibility is  an  absolutely  normal  characteristic  of  the  normal 
human  brain. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Charcot  school,  on  the  other  hand,  wishes 
to  define  hypnosis  as  a  form  of  hysteria.  But  hysteria  is  a 
disease,  and  actually  a  disease  of  the  mind,  a  functional  abnor- 
mality of  the  disposition  of  the  brain;  it  has  nothing  whatso- 
ever to  do  with  "  hysteria  " — i.e.,  uterus.  In  Charcot's  teach- 
ing of  hysteria  many  errors  have  crept  in  beside  the  numerous 
correct  observations;  these  errors  are  connected  with  the 
"  somatic  "  ideas.  In  my  opinion,  which  agrees  with  Bern- 
heim's,  the  zones  and  points  hysterogenes,  the  supposed  patho- 
gnomonic  connection  of  hysteria  with  conditions  of  irritation 
of  the  ovaries,  typical  hemianffisthesia,  and  the  like,  are  all 
artificial  things — i.e.,  symptoms  which  are  fixed  by  being  called 
attention  to,  as  all  symptoms  in  the  hysterical  are.  Hysteria  is 
a  dissociative  weakness  of  the  brain,  by  means  of  which  a  patho- 
logical autosuggestibility  is  caused.  A  marked  tendency  to 
more  or  less  transitory  functional  disturbances  of  all  sorts,  from 
the  most  localized  pain  or  convulsion,  from  the  most  localized 
anaesthesia  or  paralysis  to  the  most  general  mental  disturbance, 
is  produced  by  this  dissociative  weakness.  All  these  hysterical 
disturbances  can  fix  themselves  readily,  and  can  persist  for 
years.  They  can,  it  is  true,  even  then  still  be  cured.  But  cer- 
tain transitions  from  the  more  transient  hysterical  nerve  dis- 
turbances to  severe  and  even  irreparable  mental  disturbances 
and  other  severe  neuroses  also  exist.  Still,  this  more  often 
points  to  combinations  than  to  real  transition  forms. 

Pure  hysteria  is  mostly  a  constitutional  malady,  and  is 
incurable  as  such — i.e.,  as  an  abnormal  characteristic  of  the 
brain.  One  only  cures  the  symptoms,  and  not  the  constitutional 
disposition.  There  is,  however,  such  a  thing  as  acquired  hys- 
teria, which  can  arise  from  the  ill-usage  and  exhaustion  of 
the  brain,  and  which  merges  into  the  confused  idea  of  neuras- 
thenia.1 In  the  same  way  irritations  of  the  peripheral  nervous 

1  Everything  that  is  possible  and  impossible  is  called  by  the  term  "neuras- 
thenia," from  general  paralysis  of  the  insane,  paranoia,  and  melancholia  down 
to  hysteria.  Hypochrondriasis  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  this  confusion  of  ideas, 
however. 


HYSTERIA  165 

system  can  lead  to  it  by  a  reaction  on  the  brain.  I  do  not 
wish  to  deny  this.  These  cases  are  for  the  most  part  curable. 
There  is,  further,  a  large  number  of  mixtures  of  milder  and 
more  severe  predisposition,  and  "  nervous "  (i.e.,  cerebral) 
constitution  with  acquired  damages. 

I  asked  Dr.  Babinski,  one  of  Professor  Charcot's  assistants, 
at  the  Congress  on  Physiological  Psychology,  held  in  Paris 
in  1889,  how  he  could  explain  that  all  of  us  who  had  been 
hypnotic  pupils  of  Liebault  and  Bernheim  could  hypnotize 
from  eighty  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  all  people,  no  matter  whether 
they  are  German,  French,  Swedish,  Russian,  Dutch,  or  Eng- 
lish ?  Did  he  consider  that  these  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent, 
were  all  hysterical.  If  this  were  so,  the  idea  of  hysteria  was 
being  extended  at  the  Salpetriere  in  such  a  way  that  I  would 
protest  against  it  energetically.  To  this  I  received  the  follow- 
ing reply :  "  We  protest  in  the  Salpetriere  that  we  extend  the 
idea  of  hysteria  too  widely,  but  tares  hysteriques,  at  least,  must 
be'  present  if  any  one  is  hypnotizable."  This  controversy  was, 
however,  not  included  in  the  published  account  of  the  congress. 
Still,  I  have  repeated  it  accurately  here,  because  it  shows  how 
the  matter  lies. 

According  to  Babinski,  ninety  to  ninety-six  per  cent,  of  the 
population  (I  hypnotized  as  many  as  this)  would  therefore  have 
tares  hysteriques!  Thank  God,  the  conditions  are  at  all  events 
not  so  bad  as  all  that ! 

Dr.  Babinski  has  not  seen  his  way  during  the  following 
twelve  years  to  materially  amend  his  error,  for  he  defined  the 
idea  of  hysteria  in  1901  as  follows:1  "  Etat  psychique  rendant 
le  sujet  qui  s'y  trouve  capable  de  s'autosuggestionner.  L'hys- 
terie  se  manifeste  principalement  par  des  troubles  primitifs 
et  accessoirement  par  quelques  troubles  secondaires.  Ce  qui 
caracterise  les  premiers,  c'est  qu'il  est  possible  de  les  reproduire 
par  suggestion  avec  une  exactitude  rigoureuse  chez  certains 
sujets  et  de  les  faire  disparaitre  sous  1'innuence  exclusive  de  la 
persuasion.  Ce  qui  caraterise  les  troubles  secondaires  c'est 
qu'ils  sont  etroitement  subordonnes  a  des  troubles  primitifs." 

1  Babinski,  "  Definition  de  I'hyste'rie."  (Comptes  rendus  de  la  Societe  de 
N&rvrologie  de  Paris.) 


166  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

It  would  have  been  wiser  to  have  passed  by  this  confused 
work  without  taking  any  notice  of  it,  were  it  not  for  the  fact 
that  it  reflects  accurately  the  confusion  existing  in  so  many 
minds.  Babinski  remonstrates  against  the  term  "  suggestion  " 
because  it  contains  something  which  is  ominous.  Then  he 
desires  to  replace  the  word  hysteria  by  troubles  pithiatiques 
(disturbances  which  are  curable  by  persuasion).  In  this  he 
confounds  the  curing  of  symptoms  with  the  curing  of  a  con- 
stitutional psychopathy,  for  hysteria  is  this,  and  he  continues 
to  muddle  up  hysteria  and  suggestion.  He  has  not  yet  under- 
stood the  difference  between  normal  suggestibility  and  the  patho- 
logical hypnosis  of  the  hysterical,  even  after  these  twelve  years. 

We  know  from  the  manifold  phenomena  of  psychopathology 
that  the  conceptions  in  this  science  are  for  the  most  part  only 
dependent  on  pathological  strengthening,  weakening,  or  qualita- 
tive alterations  of  psychological  or  psychophysiological  ideas. 
Nothing  is  easier  than  to  explain  hysteria  also  as  a  pathologic- 
ally increased  suggestibility,  as  Moebius  has  done.  He  pointed 
out  correctly  that  the  symptoms  in  the  hysterical  are  apt  to 
arise  from  conceptions. .  I  myself  have  accentuated  the  patho- 
logical autosuggestibility,  because  the  majority  of  hysterics 
and  the  worst  cases  are  more  autosuggestible  than  suggestible. 

Bingier1  was  right  when  he  distinguished  two  relative  cate- 
gories of  hysterical  persons ;  the  first  included  those  who  possess 
a  very  high  degree  of  autosuggestibility,  and  are  but  little  influ- 
enced by  foreign  suggestion,  and  the  second  included  those  who 
are  more  easily  influenced  by  foreign  suggestion.  I  shall  return 
to  these  categories,  which  Ringier  introduced  on  the  basis  of 
suggestive  therapy,  because  they  are  reflected  in  other  con- 
ditions. 

There  have  always  been  some  paradoxical  practitioners  who 
say  that  all  women  are  more  or  less  hysterical.  We  can  deduce 
from  this,  as  well  as  from  Charcot's  identification  of  hypnosis 
with  a  portion  of  the  picture  of  hysteria,  that  it  has  always 
been  difficult  to  differentiate  the  idea  of  hysteria  from  that  of 
the  normal  condition. 

1  Ringier,  "Results  of  Hypnotism  in  Country  Practice."  (Miinchen: 
Lehmann,  1891.) 


POLYMORPHISM   OF   HYSTERIA  167 

But  it  is  not  easy,  either,  to  differentiate  this  idea  from  that 
of  severe  psychoses.  This  is  well  shown  by  the  mixed  terms  of 
"  hystero-epilepsy,"  "  hysterical  madness,"  "  hysterical  mania," 
etc.  However,  Charcot,  Breuer,  Freund,  Vogt,  and  also  several 
authors  who  have  reported  single  cases,  have  proved  that  appar- 
ently severe  phenomena,  which  are  extremely  like  severe  neu- 
roses, epilepsy,  or  severe  psychoses,  can  be  produced  by  concep- 
tions, and  can  be  again  removed  by  conceptions.  I  myself  have 
observed  a  number  of  striking  cases  of  this  kind.  Such  cases 
may  even  last  for  years,  or  almost  for  a  lifetime,  and  yet 
finally  be  cured,  as  if  it  were  by  a  miracle.  I  have  seen  such  a 
case  of  severe  paraplegia  in  Wetterstrand's  practice. 

Still,  we  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  blinded  by  appear- 
ances. These  cases  belong  really  to  true  hysteria,  whether  they 
affect  men  or  women.  But  it  is  quite  different  in  the  case  of 
the  true  mixed  forms.  These  belong  chiefly  to  Ringier's  first- 
mentioned  category.  If  we  study  such  individuals  carefully, 
we  find  that  they  harbor  in  themselves  elements  of  severe  con- 
stitutional psychopathic  anomalies  or  psychoses,  such  as  ethical 
defects,  erethic  conditions  of  mood,  irritable  weakness,  rudi- 
ments or  elements  of  ideas  of  exaltation  or  delusions  of  perse- 
cution with  partial  lucidity  which  take  up  a  position  halfway 
toward  psychoses,  impulsion,  abnormalities  of  the  sexual 
sphere,  morbid  amorousness,  pathological  giddiness,  constitu- 
tional quarrelsomeness  or  melancholia,  hypochondriasis,  etc.  In 
brief,  we  are  floating  from  the  region  of  hysteria  into  that 
of  other  constitutional  psychopathic  conditions,  or  maybe  we 
are  already  in  it  before  we  know  what  has  happened.  The 
phenomenon  of  pathological  autosuggestibility  is  undoubtedly 
more  deeply  pathological  than  that  of  pathological  suggesti- 
bility. But  one  cannot  draw  a  definite  line  of  demarcation. 
"Not  only  can  other  psychopathical  persons  show  exquisitely 
hysterical  phenomena,  but  if  we  fix  our  attention  on  the  latter 
of  Eingier's  categories,  we  find  that  these  people,  if  they  are 
markedly  hysterical  and  are  not  to  be  considered  normal,  really 
belong  to  the  constitutional  psychopaths,  even  if  it  be  to  the 
relatively  milder  ones. 

We  have  built  up  a  transition  series  from  the  severe  psycho- 


168  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

pathical  conditions  to  relatively  pure  hysteria,  and  thence  to 
the  normal  condition,  by  means  of  these  cases. 

However,  lines  and  planes  are  not  to  be  found  in  this  subject. 
Many  constitutional  psychoses  show  transitions  to  the  normal 
condition  which  do  not  reveal  anything  hysterical  at  all  in 
them. 

But  more  than  that.  As  is  well  known,  a  formerly  healthy 
person  may  acquire  an  hysteria.  Attempts  have  been  made 
to  deny  this,  but  not  with  justification.  Just  as  the  cardinal 
symptoms  of  paranoia,  or  of  melancholia,  or  perverse  sexual 
appetite,  etc.,  exist  both  constitutionally  as  disorders  of  the 
character  and  acquiredly  as  acute  or  chronic  psychoses,  so  is 
this  the  case  with  the  symptoms  of  hysteria,  and  even  with  the 
disposition  toward  hysteria.  I  have  experienced  several  exqui- 
sitely acquired  cases  of  perverse  sexual  appetite,  which  have 
been  produced  by  autosuggestion,  occurring  in  highly  ethical 
and  educated  persons.  Some  of  these  I  have  been  able  to  cure 
by  suggestion. 

One  meets  at  times  with  acute  curable  hysteria,  following 
severe  emotions  (psychical  traumata)  or  wasting  illnesses,  and 
also  arising  without  any  ascertainable  cause,  and  the  patients 
in  these  cases  have  not  shown  a  trace  of  such  phenomena  pre- 
viously. One  is  apt  to  regard  these  cases  under  the  new- 
fashioned  term  of  "  neurasthenia."  However,  perfectly  pure 
cases  of  this  kind  are  rare.  As  a  rule,  one  deals  with  an 
acquired  pathological  hysterical  reaction  of  a  person  who  is 
at  least  constitutionally  predisposed  in  these  cases,  and  this 
can  usually  be  proved  by  following  up  the  anamnesis  carefully. 
The  actual  neurasthenias  do  not  fare  any  better  (by  this  one 
means  hypochrondriasis,  other  psychopathical  conditions  and 
the  like,  provided  that  they  are  not  cases  of  early  general 
paralysis  of  the  insane).  Even  these  are  only  rarely  the  results 
of  mental  overwork,  but  are  mostly  the  results  of  hereditary 
predisposition,  associated  with  psychical  traumata  or  exhaus- 
tions, and  the  like.  In  this  way,  Beard's  "  new  discovery  " 
resolves  itself  into  a  new  naming  of  long-recognized  clinical 
pictures  chiefly. 

If  I  might  be  allowed  to  draw  conclusions  from  this  resume, 


PATHOLOGICAL  DISSOCIABILITY  169 

which  I  fear  has  already  become  too  long,  I  should  choose  the 
following : 

1.  Hysteria  is  not  a  completely  circumscribed  clinical  pic- 
ture, but  is  a  pathological  symptom  complex  or  syndrome. 

2.  This  symptom  complex  may  be  constitutional  or,  more 
rarely,  acquired ;  both  factors  are  not  infrequently  combined. 

3.  This  symptom  complex  is  characterized  especially  by  a 
pathological    dissociability     (suggestibility    and    autosuggesti- 
bility)   in  which  the  autosuggestibility  preponderates  in  the 
severer  and  more  markedly  constitutional  cases.    It  is  combined 
under  numerous  conditions  with  other  phenomena  of  consti- 
tutional psychopathic  conditions. 

Pathological  dissociability  corresponds  to  a  condition  of 
the  brain  in  which  conceptions,  impulses  of  the  will  and  emo- 
tions are  especially  easily  and  intensively  dissociated.  In  con- 
sequence, spontaneous  somnambulic  chains,  which  act  intensely, 
are  formed  in  the  contracted  consciousness.  These  chains  can 
carry  the  personality  with  them,  and  may,  under  certain  condi- 
tions, divide  it  into  a  double  "  ego  " ;  it  then  is  able  to  mature 
some  very  extraordinary  phenomena.  The  dramatic  hysterical 
deceptions  and  dreamlike  instability,  generally  speaking,  of 
such  patients  come  under  this  heading. 

The  pathological  suggestibility  and  autosuggestibility  mani- 
fest themselves  by  the  production  of  manifold  functional 
disturbances  of  the  whole  nervous  system :  psychopetal,  psycho- 
fugal,  and  psychocentral,  through  the  intermediation  of  con- 
ceptions. These  disturbances  can  produce  material  changes  in 
the  cells,  which  are  easily  visible,  but  which  are  by  no  means 
of  more  importance  than  others  on  this  account.  It  is  undoubt- 
edly true  that  molecular  changes  of  living  nerve  elements  corre- 
spond to  every  function  and  disturbance  of  function  of  the 
nervous  system  (Hodge  and  others).  One  must  regard  peri- 
pheral hysterical  nerve  disturbances  and  changes  as  products 
of  pathological  hysterical  suggestions  and  autosuggestions 
(anaesthesia,  paralysis,  contracture,  contraction  of  the  field  of 
vision,  haemorrhage  of  the  mucous  membrane,  etc.). 

If  the  definition  of  hysteria  as  I  have  given  it  be  accepted, 
the  gradual  limitation  in  all  directions,  even  in  the  direction  of 


170  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

normal  suggestibility,  becomes  self-evident.  The  difference 
between  hysteria  and  normal  suggestibility  may  be  compared 
with  the  difference  between  melancholia  and  normal  sadness, 
or  between  "  moral "  insanity  and  normal  egotism,  or  between 
pathological  swindling  and  normal  willful  cheating,  or  also  be- 
tween normal  and  hypochondriacal  sensation  of  pain. 

Very  marked  suggestibility  is  already  hypernormal,  and  may 
at  times  be  accompanied  by  hysterical  predisposition.  Still, 
that  which  distinguishes  hysteria  more  especially  is  the  patho- 
logical reaction,  the  decking  out  of  the  suggestions  given  with 
unintentional  autosuggestions,  and  the  wholesale  production  of 
paralyses,  convulsions,  pains,  etc.,  which  have  not  been  sug- 
gested. 

Uncorrected  hypnosis  of  the  hysterical  is  quite  a  different 
thing  to  hypnosis  of  the  normal  person.  Dr.  Babinski  does 
not  take  this  fact  into  consideration.  The  former  overshoots 
the  mark,  tends  to  the  production  of  lethargy  or  hysterical 
attack,  does  not  obey  the  suggestions,  or  exaggerates  them,  and 
must  be  guided  with  especial  caution,  circumspection,  and  skill ; 
it  must,  in  fact,  be  normalized. 

Hysterical  dissociability  plays  an  important  part,  socially 
and  historically  as  well  as  therapeutically.  It  is  especially 
this  which  transforms  a  personality,  be  it  for  good  or  for  bad. 
When  the  hysteria  occurs  in  a  gifted  person  he  not  infrequently 
becomes  a  convert,  a  leader  of  the  mob,  a  prophet,  or  the  like. 
But  one  must  not  suppose  that  all  enthusiasts  and  fanatics 
exhibit  hysterical  phenomena.  One  meets  with  these  phe- 
nomena in  those  cases  in  which  striking  transformations  of 
the  whole  personality,  caused  by  suggestion,  take  place.  How- 
ever, this  may  also  be  due  to  actual  psychoses  (e.g.,  paranoia}. 
In  this  case  a  degeneration  of  the  "  ego  "  takes  place,  which  is 
not  the  case  in  hysteria. 

Meynert  said  that  hypnosis  is  "  an  experimentally  produced 
idiocy."  If  he  had  said  "  insanity  "  his  statement  would  have 
been  more  plausible.  His  views,  which  are  deduced,  and  which 
have  been  thrust  upon  us  without  any  knowledge  of  the  mat- 
ter, are  obviously  based  on  the  fact  that  one  can  produce 
many  phenomena  (hallucinations,  false  beliefs,  deceptions  of 


MEYNERT'S  VIEWS  171 

memory,  and  the  like)  in  the  hypnotized  which  are  also  to 
be  observed  in  the  insane.  A  casual  observer  can  be  easily 
led  astray  by  these  analogies,  if  he  has  had  no  experience  of 
suggestion,  but  has  only  gained  experience  of  the  insane.  The 
following  points  are  obviously  forgotten  in  connection  with 
this: 

1.  All  these  apparent  symptoms  of  mental  disturbance  occur 
also  in  normal  sleep,  albeit  that  they  are  for  the  most  part  less 
well  developed  (see  p.  75).    And  sleep  is  certainly  not  a  mental 
disease. 

2.  The  induced   symptoms   in  hypnotized    persons   do   not 
exhibit  any  tendency  toward  being  spontaneously  repeated  in 
the  waking  condition,  provided  that  the  operator  understands 
his  subject,  and  does  not  intentionally  endeavor  to  cultivate  and 
fix  the  disturbing  symptoms  by  means  of  suggestions.     This 
brings  me  to  a  very  important  question.     Liebeault,  Bernheim, 
Wetterstrand,  van  Eeden,   van  Renterghem,   de   Jong,   Vogt, 
Ringier,  Delius,  I  myself,  and  the  other  pupils  of  the  Nancy 
school,  declare  emphatically  that  we  have  never  met  with  a 
single  case  of  serious  or  lasting  damage  to  the  mental  or  bodily 
health  produced  by  hypnosis,  but  have  observed  very  many 
cures  and  improvements  in  illnesses  in  persons  whom  we  have 
treated.     And  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  we  have  had  the 
experience   of  many   thousand   cases   of   hypnotized   persons. 
Autosuggestions  and  hysterical  attacks,  transitory  mild  dizzi- 
ness in  the  head,  and  the  like,  as  well  as  the  occurrence  of  auto- 
hypnosis  on  a  few  occasions  during  our  early  attempts  and 
while  we  were  still  wanting  in  practice,  were  the  only  indica- 
tions of  "  damage  "  which  have  been  observed.     The  matter 
cannot  be  dismissed  by  ambiguous  forms  of  speech,  in  view  of 
such  evidence.     Either  we  are  all  miserable  liars,  or  the  sup- 
posititious damage  of  hypnosis  must  depend  partly  on  the  appli- 
cation of  faulty  methods,  partly  on  the  stupidity  of  unskilled 
operators,  partly  on  frivolous  experiments,  but  chiefly  on  mis- 
conceptions and  exaggerations.     We  hold  this  view.     I  had  the 
opportunity  of  witnessing  a  hypnosis  of  fright  according  to 
the  Salpetriere  method  in  Paris  in  1889.      An  assistant  ad- 
vanced toward  an  hysterical  girl.     She  realized  his  intention, 


172  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

cried  out,  and  fled  into  every  corner,  with  the  expression  of 
disgust  and  great  fear.  In  spite  of  this  she  was  captured,  and, 
heedless  of  her  despairing  struggles,  was  held  fast.  The  assist- 
ant then  pressed  with  all  his  strength  on  some  point  or  other 
(shoulder  or  leg)  which  is  supposed  to  be  a  zone  hypnogene. 
The  patient  was  hypnotized  suddenly  in  a  cataleptic  position 
in  this  manner.  They  did  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  quiet 
her  by  means  of  suggestions.  We  certainly  must  state  that  one 
can  do  damage  in  this  way,  and  even  without  having  recourse 
to  such  brutal  behavior,  one  may  do  damage  if  the  patient  is 
frightened  instead  of  being  reassured. 

Mental  disease  is  not  characterized  by  the  psychological  form 
of  a  symptom  or  of  a  symptom  complex,  but  by  a  disease  of  the 
brain  itself.  The  cause  of  the  disease  (apart  from  general 
paralysis  of  the  insane  and  other  so-called  organic  psychoses, 
as  well  as  those  which  depend  on  intoxications)  is  obscure,  but 
nevertheless  is  undoubtedly  concealed  behind  the  psychical  con- 
tents of  the  symptoms.  It  is  not  the  phenomenon  of  the  hallu- 
cination which  is  in  itself  morbid,1  but  it  is  the  concealed  patho- 
logical irritation  which  produces  the  continued  repetition  of 
certain  hallucinations.  A  rapid  jabbering  of  fleeting  ideas  is 
not  in  itself  morbid,  for  every  one  may  exhibit  the  phenomena 
of  a  brief  flight  of  ideas  during  the  moment  of  adequate  incita- 
tion  or  excitability.  But  the  cause,  which  is  still  unknown, 
of  the  pathological  storm  of  irritation  which  boils  in  the  brain 
of  the  maniac,  and  which  produces,  besides,  the  general  psycho- 
motor  excitement,  euphoria,  etc.,  is  morbid.  The  contents  of 
delusions  are  not  in  themselves  morbid,  for  every  normal  per- 
son can  think  or  dream  nonsense.  But  the  incapability  of 
correcting  the  delusions  logically,  and  the  impulse  by  means  of 
which  they  keep  on  recurring,  is  the  morbid  thing.  Both  are 

1  One  need  not  construct  one's  mind,  one's  whole  edifice  of  conception, 
on  an  hallucinatory  foundation  for  this  reason  (Janet,  Dessoir).  Without 
wishing  to  dispute  the  sharpness  and  depth  of  such  views,  I  may  be  permitted 
to  state  that  m  the  philogenetic  development  of  the  engrains  the  capability 
of  primary  differentiation  between  impressions  of  memory  conjured  up 
(ecphorized)  and  actual  perception  of  reality  forms  a  biological  postulate  of 
the  self-preservation  of  the  individual  and  of  the  kind.  The  animal  must  be 
able  to  distinguish  the  renewed  complex  of  stimuli  coming  from  without  from 
the  ecphorized  engram  complex  of  former  stimuli  which  lies  latent  in  the 
brain  (internal  conceptions)  in  order  to  find  his  way  about  in  the  outer  world. 


SUGGESTION  AND   PSYCHOSES  173 

obviously  based  on  peculiar  conditions  or  irritation  and  dis- 
turbances of  coordination  in  the  process  of  thinking;  these  are 
perhaps  localized  in  a  definite  manner,  and,  at  all  events,  are 
combined  in  a  more  or  less  regular  manner  in  every  so-called 
form  of  disease,  and  so  on. 

The  doctrine  of  suggestion  throws  light  on  psychology  in  this 
way,  and  offers  important  hints  to  it,  which  are  partly  confirma- 
tions of  views  that  clear-minded  psychiatric  observers  have 
held  for  a  long  time.  It  is  of  particular  importance  for  the 
doctrine  of  hallucinations.  It  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  nega- 
tive hallucinations  in  the  insane,  and  proves  clearly  to  us  that 
the  hallucination  is  not  the  morbid  symptom  in  itself,  but 
becomes  this  through  its  pathological  cause. 

It  is  indisputable  that  certain  forms  of  insanity  of  a  mild 
or  little  generalized  type  can  be  occasionally  improved  or  even 
cured  by  suggestion,  if  the  patient  possesses  a  very  suggestible 
brain,  and  if  the  operator  is  very  skillful.  Wetterstrand  has 
even  cured  several  cases  of  epilepsy  solely  by  suggestion;1  he 
has  also  done  the  same  in  mild  melancholia  and  hypochon- 
driasis.  Professor  von  Speyr,  of  Berne,  and  others,  including 
myself,  have  observed  a  few  surprisingly  favorable  results  of 
this  treatment.  The  chief  difficulty  lies  in  the  inattention  and 
inaccessibleness  of  the  patient,  and  in  the  intensity  of  the  patho- 
logical stimuli  and  inclinations.  The  difference  between  the 
insane  and  normal  hypnotized  persons  if  recognized  only  too 
markedly  even  when  the  type  of  symptoms  appears  to  be  the 
same.  I  have  often  compared  the  waxlike  flexibility  of  the 
katatonic  patient  with  suggestive  catalepsy :  in  the  one  case  one 
has  the  meaningless  stare  and  the  inaccessibility  for  all  sug- 
gestions, and  in  the  other  one  has  automatic  obedience.  The 
two  are  absolutely  different.  In  the  former  there  is  in  all 
probability  pathological  oedema  of  the  brain,  and  in  the  latter 
only  a  transient  functional  anaemia  of  the  brain  (see  O.  Vogt, 
p.  147). 

I  have  said,  "  The  brain  of  the  hypnotized  person  is  our  cur- 
ing apparatus  with  which  we  work,  I  might  almost  say  our 

I 1  have  always  been  doubtful  whether  he  was  not  really  dealing  partly 
with  gross  forms  of  hysteria. 


174  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

dynamo  machine.  If  the  machine  gets  out  of  order,  it  becomes 
difficult  or  impossible  to  work  with  it." 

This  requires  a  certain  amount  of  explanation.  Firstly,  it 
is  self-evident  that  a  living  machine  is  not  a  machine  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  The  living  organism  is  a  self- 
developing  and  self-supporting  machine,  which  works  auto- 
matically. It  seeks  the  conditions  of  its  movements  (motor), 
in  the  shape  of  food  and  water  for  itself,  and  it  can,  besides, 
adapt  itself.  Next,  it  goes  through  a  progressive  evolution  of 
life.  However,  if  we  allow  for  all  these  differences,  the  com- 
parison may  be  of  use  as  a  comparison  by  analogy. 

The  more  I  hypnotize,  the  more  clearly  do  I  learn  to  recog- 
nize the  reasons  of  failure  in  healthy  minded  persons.  First 
of  all  there  are  the  emotions,  such  as  inward  excitement,  anger, 
exaggerated  lively  exaltation,  fear,  mistrust,  sadness  and  de- 
spair, etc.,  which  limit  the  result,  or  may  actually  destroy  it 
entirely,  even  in  very  suggestible  people  who  have  often  been 
hypnotized.  As  soon  as  I  notice  that  a  person  remains  unin- 
fluenced or  does  not  obey  well  any  longer,  I  ask  him,  "  What 
is  it  that  is  exciting  you?  Why  don't  you  tell  me  what  you 
have  got  on  your  mind  ? "  And  this  question,  asked  in  a 
friendly  but  definite  tone,  rarely  fails  to  elicit  a  positive  reply. 
The  patient  notices  that  I  have  recognized  the  cause  of  the 
failure  at  once,  and  almost  always  confesses  it.  I  can  generally 
reassure  him  thereby,  and,  in  consequence,  attain  what  I  am 
aiming  at. 

But  it  is  not  only  emotions  which  disturb.  Every  other 
brain  activity  as  well,  which  holds  the  attention  in  a  condition 
of  tension,  disturbs  hypnosis,  sometimes  to  a  greater  and  some- 
times to  a  less,  extent — preoccupation,  awakening  of  the  inter- 
est, reasoning,  impulses,  etc. 

All  these  brain  activities  act  as  antagonists  to  suggestion. 
But  the  worst  of  all  for  the  suggestion  is  when  a  definite 
antagonist  (emotion,  conception,  impulse  of  will,  or  a  mixture 
of  these  activities)  regularly  counteracts  the  suggestion  against 
the  conscious  will  of  the  hypnotized  person.  This  is  the  dis- 
turbing autosuggestion  which  not  infrequently  wins  the  day, 
in  spite  of  all  the  endeavors  of  the  hypnotist  and  of  the  best 


ANTAGONISTS  TO   SUGGESTION  175 

intentions  of  the  hypnotized.  One  is  much  more  likely  to  gain 
the  upper  hand  over  several  autosuggestions  (by  means  of  the 
divide  et  impera)  than  over  one  of  them  alone. 

One  observes  a  variety  of  things  on  carrying  out  hypnotic 
experiments  in  the  insane.  In  acute  psychoses  emotions  oppose 
us,  and  the  power  and  duration  of  these  stifle  everything  else. 
I  have  often  attempted  to  hypnotize  away  simple  homesickness 
in  the  healthy.  This  only  succeeds  with  difficulty,  and  some- 
times fails.  Even  in  this  case  the  emotional  wave,  and  the  con- 
ception associated  with  it,  form  an  almost  insurmountable 
antagonist.  The  hypnosis  may  succeed,  and  even  other  troubles 
(pain  and  the  like)  may  be  banished  successfully,  but  it  attacks 
the  impulse  of  homesickness  unsuccessfully.  How  much  more 
markedly  is  this  the  case  in  the  psychoses! 

As  I  have  already  said,  one  can  certainly  overcome  the  initial 
onset  and  the  early  stage  of  a  psychosis  by  suggestion  in  cer- 
tain cases.  But  if  a  melancholia,  a  mania,  or  a  delusional 
insanity  has  broken  out,  one  will  only  rarely  be  able  to  tran- 
quilize  the  patient  for  the  time  being.  The  antagonist  in  the 
brain,  no  matter  of  what  nature  it  be,  is  much  too  powerful. 
(For  further  details,  see  my  histories  of  cases,  given  later.) 

We  find  that  other  forms  of  psychoses,  especially  those  forms 
with  prominent  delusions,  also  act  as  powerful  antagonists, 
toward  which  suggestion  is  helpless.  The  attempt  even  to  hyp- 
notize a  patient  suffering  from  delusions  of  persecution  or  delu- 
sions of  exaltation  mostly  proves  itself  to  be  futile,  and  may 
even  be  a  harmful  experiment.  This  patient  regards  everything 
with  the  utmost  suspicion  which  aims  at  influencing  his  person 
in  any  way.  The  former  suffers  from  delusions  of  encroach- 
ment, as  it  were,  and  applies  the  most  innocent  things  to 
himself.  Since  the  invention  of  the  telephone,  those  suffering 
from  delusions  of  persecution  frequently  imagine  that  they  are 
harassed  by  secret  telephones  (air  telephones  and  the  like). 
As  hypnotism  is  discussed  everywhere,  one  often  finds  the  most 
marked  hypnotic  delusions  of  persecution  in  such  patients. 
They  fancy  that  they  are  being  secretly  hypnotized,  or  that 
they  are  being  persecuted  hypnotically  by  enemies,  and  so  on. 
Telepathic  and  spiritualistic  theories  form  excellent  food  for 


176  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

this  kind  of  delusion  system.  One  can  now  understand  how 
foolish  it  is  to  wish  to  hypnotize  such  patients.  One  only  sup- 
plies them  with  material  for  delusions,  which  are  at  once 
directed  against  those  hypnotizing.  I  have  only  done  this  once 
or  twice  at  first,  experimenti  causa,  found  my  belief  that  it 
must  be  as  I  have  described  confirmed,  and  have  then  let  the 
matter  drop.  The  patients  with  delusions  of  exaltation  despise 
the  hypnotist  inordinately,  and  only  become  excited  by  the 
attempt. 

Patients  suffering  from  organic  psychoses  depending  on 
atrophy  of  the  brain  cannot,  as  a  rule,  grasp  a  suggestion.  The 
destructive  brain  process  is  generalized  in  such  a  way  that  one 
cannot  even  obtain  those  partial  results  which  one  often  obtains 
in  apoplectic  paralysis.  The  brain  tissue  of  the  apoplectic 
patient  is  still  relatively  healthy  apart  from  the  affected  area. 
The  tissue  of  a  brain  in  the  condition  of  senile  or  general 
paralysis  is  diseased  through  and  through. 

The  results  in  inherited  and  constitutional  psychoses,  in  psy- 
chopathy, hysteria,  etc.,  are  very  materially  better,  provided 
that  well-marked  idiocy  is  excluded.  But  the  cerebral  lesion 
and  the  morbid  disposition  naturally  cannot  be  removed.  Still, 
one  can  obtain  much  that  is  for  the  good  of  the  patient — at  all 
events,  in  a  number  of  cases — by  means  of  a  correct  suggestive 
pedagogic  treatment,  by  introducing  the  habit  of  good  and 
healthy  activities,  by  stimulating  the  healthy  traits  of  charac- 
ter, and  by  suggesting  abhorrence  and  disgust  for  morbid  and 
perverse  impulses.  For  this  purpose,  it  is  true,  the  individual 
concerned  must  be  reasonably  suggestible,  and  must  possess 
some  good  qualities,  which  is  often  the  case.  The  brain  in  these 
cases  is  neither  affected  by  delusions  nor  continually  under  the 
influence  of  emotions;  the  dynamic  conditions  of  suggestibility 
are  therefore  present. 

The  same  applies  to  the  intoxication  psychoses  (after  the 
delirium  has  passed  off),  in  which  one  can  achieve  a  cure  for 
the  rest  of  life  by  suggestion  of  a  dislike  of  the  narcotic  and  of 
total  abstinence  from  the  drug.  One  cannot  arrive  at  a  cura- 
tive action  in  its  full  sense  in  certain  cases  of  secondary  psy- 
choses which  have  run  their  course,  but  one  attains  important 


HYPNOSIS   IN  THE   INSANE  177 

impulses  toward  useful  activities — e.g.,  toward  work,  etc. — 
and  also  inhibition  of  perverse  habits,  in  place  of  this.  How- 
ever, these  cases  are  rare,  and  owe  their  existence  to  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  emotions  and  of  the  delusions,  together  with  a  partial 
preservation  of  the  intelligence.  Thus,  they  only  help  to  con- 
firm my  view.  The  majority  of  persons  suffering  from  second- 
ary insanity  are  too  demented  and  too  confused,  and  harbor 
too  many  delusions,  to  admit  of  suggestive  influence. 

At  first  sight  it  appears  less  easy  to  explain  that  certain 
insane  patients  can  be  easily  hypnotized,  that  one  can  influence 
them  freely  as  far  as  pain,  appetite,  motion  of  the  bowels, 
menstruation,  sleep,  and  the  like,  are  concerned,  although  the 
mental  disturbance,  the  morbid  delusions,  and  emotions,  con- 
tinue to  exist  unchanged  and  unshortened.  One  sometimes 
observes  if  one  hypnotizes  hysterical  persons  without  having 
determined  on  a  plan  of  procedure,  without  a  programme,  that 
the  patient  lapses  into  a  deep  lethargic  sleep;  I  have  seen  this 
in  four  patients.  In  two  of  these  patients,  one  of  which  was 
an  hystero-epileptic  male  and  the  other  an  hysterical  girl,  this 
deep  sleep  set  in  with  such  lightning  rapidity  that  I  failed 
completely  to  remain  in  psychical  connection  with  them.  None 
of  the  means  at  my  disposal  sufficed  to  make  them  suggestively 
obedient.  I  only  succeeded  in  awakening  them  from  their  sleep 
with  great  difficulty,  although  I  had  found  it  easy  to  put  them 
to  sleep.  They  were  completely  anaesthetic,  and  the  man  showed 
complete  relaxation  of  all  muscles,  while  the  girl  was  cataleptic. 
In  the  third  case,  that  of  an  epileptic  boy,  the  deep  sleep  also 
set  in  suddenly.  However,  it  was  always  possible,  albeit  with 
great  difficulty,  to  obtain  some  weak  actions  of  suggestion  by 
loud  shouting  and  energetic  stirring  up.  The  fourth  case  was 
one  of  melancholic  psychopathic  disturbance,  which  became 
circular  later  on.  This  patient  lost  the  "  rapport "  during  the 
deep  lethargic  sleep  which  followed  the  hypnotizing  by  a  col- 
league of  mine.  In  this  case  I  was  able  soon  to  replace  the 
"  rapport "  completely  after  a  little  practice,  and  to  achieve 
somnambulic  obedience. 

I  was  consulted  in  an  interesting  case  by  my  colleague,  Dr. 
Boesch.  The  patient  was  an  hysterical  girl  who  had  lapsed 


178  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

into  a  spontaneous  catalepsy.  The  extremities  were  cold  and 
cyanotic,  the  look  was  glassy,  and  the  skin  was  anaesthetic 
during  the  ecstatic  sleep,  with  dreamlike  hallucinations.  I 
attempted  in  vain  to  establish  a  suggestive  "  rapport."  But 
certain  signs  seemed  to  me  to  indicate  that  this  was  not  quite 
impossible.  Boesch  attempted,  on  my  advice,  to  influence  the 
girl  after  she  had  awakened  from  the  sleep,  which  lasted  for 
several  hours  each  day,  by  means  of  suggestion  during  waking. 
He  succeeded  in  this  in  so  far  that  he  achieved  suggestive 
obedience  to  a  great  extent — at  first  during  the  waking  condi- 
tion, and,  as  a  result,  even  in  the  spontaneous  cataleptic  sleep. 
Unfortunately,  this  influence  was  lost  later  on,  before  it  had 
resulted  in  a  complete  cure. 


CHAPTER   VI 

HINTS   TO   THE   PRACTITIONER   ON    SUGGESTIVE    TREATMENT   AND 
PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICS 

IF  one  wishes  to  hypnotize,  and  especially  to  obtain  therapeutic 
results  by  this  means,  one  must  first  arm  one's  self  with  great 
patience,  with  enthusiasm,  with  consistency,  with  an  unhesitat- 
ing manner,  and  with  the  capability  of  inventing  tricks  and  of 
originating  ideas.  Next,  one  must  learn  to  observe  psychologic- 
ally correctly,  and  to  individualize.  Lastly,  the  determination 
of  the  actual  diagnosis  is  necessary,  as  it  is  in  every  other  form 
of  treatment.  But  suggestion  itself  often  offers  such  an  excel- 
lent diagnostic  means  that  one  is  thoroughly  justified  in  apply- 
ing it  for  this  purpose  frequently.  The  diagnosis  of  a  doubtful 
case  can  ofttimes  be  made  from  the  success  or  failure  of  the 
hypnotic  suggestion. 

As  the  foregoing  implies,  not  every  medical  practitioner  is 
suitable  to  become  a  hypnotist.  It  is  true  that  the  personal 
magnetic  fluid,  which  used  to  be  considered  necessary,  is  a 
superfluous  myth,  but  every  one  does  not  possess  the  character- 
istics and  capabilities  mentioned  above.  By  far  the  most 
potent  factor  which  stands  in  the  way  of  success  is  the  want 
of  interest  and  of  personal  initiative.  In  this  way,  if  it  is 
not  constantly  being  spurred  again  into  life,  one's  own  mental 
activity  slowly  becomes  dormant  as  a  result  of  the  unavoidable 
frictions  of  everyday  life.  In  this  the  vis  inertia,  which 
adheres  so  tenaciously  to  the  larger  portion  of  the  populace, 
plays  a  determining  role.  The  man  who  attempts  to  hypnotize 
in  an  automatic  sort  of  way,  following  out  a  preconceived 
scheme,  will  rapidly  fail  to  have  results  to  record  as  soon  as 
the  fascination  of  the  novelty  of  the  thing  has  passed  off,  espe- 
cially if  he  does  not  take  any  intelligent  trouble  over  it.  He 

179 


180  HYPNOTISM    AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

will  go  to  sleep  himself  more  and  more,  and  his  patients  will 
be  influenced  less  and  less. 

A  second  factor  which  prevents  success  is  mistrust,  nervous- 
ness, fear  that  others  will  laugh  at  him,  fear  that  the  hypnotized 
person  will  simulate,  and  misgivings  and  doubts  of  all  kinds. 
This  second  factor,  which  at  first  is  the  most  formidable,  disap- 
pears as  soon  as  one  gains  experience,  and  then  the  first  factor 
makes  itself  felt  to  the  full  extent,  and  must  continuously  be 
combated.  One  can  frequently  notice,  when  one  is  depressed 
or  tired,  that  one  achieves  fewer  results,  for  this  weakness  of 
the  hypnotist  is  unconsciously  recognized  by  the  brain  dyna- 
misms of  the  hypnotized. 

One  should  approach  the  person  to  be  hypnotized,  as  Bern- 
heim  advises,  quite  naturally  and  intent  on  one's  purpose ;  one 
explains  to  him  that  there  is  nothing  unnatural  or  uncanny 
about  the  procedure,  but  that  it  is  a  characteristic  of  the  nervous 
system  which  applies  to  everybody ;  one  says  that  he  will  readily 
be  influenced  or  fall  to  sleep.  One  should  avoid  long  speeches 
and  explanations,  and  the  patient  or  subject  is  placed  in  a 
comfortable  easy-chair.  It  is  best  if  the  chair  has  no  arms,  or, 
failing  this,  if  the  arms  are  well  upholstered.  The  chair  is  so 
placed  that  one  side  is  touching  a  perpendicular  wall,  so  that 
one  can  assist  a  suggestive  catalepsy  of  the  arm,  of  which  one 
is  not  quite  certain,  by  leaning  the  arm  against  the  wall. 

One  should  enjoy  the  trust  and  inclination  of  the  person  to 
be  hypnotized  as  far  as  is  possible,  or  attempt  to  gain  these. 

O.  Vogt  (see  Chapter  IV)  states  that  he  accustoms  his 
patients  to  the  "  rapport "  consistently  by  very  brief  repeated 
hypnoses,  after  which  he  makes  them  relate  their  sensations 
exactly.  In  this  way  he  strangles  unpleasant  autosuggestions 
in  the  bud,  and  at  the  same  time  joins  his  following  suggestions 
to  the  innocent  suggestive  results.  He  avoids,  above  all  things, 
giving  suggestions  in  such  a  way  that  the  patient  does  not  realize 
them  at  once,  or,  at  all  events,  soon,  and  thus  prevents,  as  I 
do  also,  awakening  or  strengthening  the  idea  "  that  it  does  not 
succeed  with  him."  At  first  he  only  hints  at  the  occurrence 
of  some  phenomenon  or  other,  and  only  suggests  this  more  forci- 
bly after  he  has  noticed  the  beginnings  of  the  occurrence  him- 


METHODS   OF   HYPNOTIZING  181 

self,  or  learns  of  it  by  the  statements  of  the  patient.  He  avoids 
a  commanding  tone  of  voice,  so  that  those  who  do  not  want  to 
lose  the  "  freedom  of  will  "  shall  not  be  disturbed.  The  phe- 
nomena of  suggestion  should  be  represented,  especially  to 
educated  persons,  as  arising  quite  naturally  out  of  themselves. 
I  entirely  approve  of  this  method,  and  had  already  employed 
it,  although  not  quite  so  consistently. 

One  should  further  avoid  that  the  person  to  be  hypnotized 
is  mentally  stimulated  or  excited,  or  that  he  is  anxious  or  in 
a  condition  of  expectant  tension.  The  last-named  spoils  the 
first  hypnosis  in  a  large  number  of  people,  and  especially  in  the 
educated,  who  imagine  all  sorts  of  wonderful  things,  and  expect 
them  to  take  place.  Some  persons  are  afraid  that  they  cannot 
be  hypnotized,  and,  in  consequence,  give  themselves  this  auto- 
suggestion, which  is  frequently  extremely  difficult  to  overcome. 
In  this  case  patience  and  various  tricks  must  be  employed. 
The  first  attempt  under  these  conditions  frequently  fails.  One 
then  explains  to  the  person  that  he  was  too  excited  for  the 
moment,  that  he  was  taking  too  keen  an  interest  in  the  procedure, 
but  that  he  was  already  influenced.  Sleep  was  by  no  means 
necessary  for  the  action  to  be  attained,  and  it  would  come  later 
of  its  own  account.  One  then  speaks  only  of  light  dozing,  etc. 
Once,  after  I  had  exhausted  all  my  tricks  in  this  way  without 
result  with  a  lady,  I  appointed  another  time  for  her  to  come  to 
see  me,  allowed  her  to  get  up,  and  put  on  her  hat,  coat,  and 
gloves,  and  then  I  got  up  too,  and  said  to  her,  apparently  without 
any  ulterior  motive,  "  Sit  down  again  for  a  moment  " ;  and. 
with  a  few  rapid  and  definite  suggestions,  she  was  hypnotized 
in  a  few  seconds. 

In  many  cases  of  this  kind  the  hypnotizing  of  another  person 
in  the  presence  of  the  person  to  be  hypnotized  acts  advantage- 
ously. The  intention  of  this,  however,  must  not  be  noticed,  or 
else  the  action  will  be  lost. 

I  wish,  on  the  whole  to  recommend  the  method  according 
to  Liebeault-Wetterstrand,  which  I  shall  describe  presently — the 
collective  hypnotizing. 

According  to  Bernheim's  procedure,  one  requests  the  patient 
to  sit  in  the  armchair,  tells  him  to  look  straight  into  one's  eyes 


182  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

for  a  few  seconds,  but  not  longer  than  one  minute,  and  declares 
to  him  loudly  and  firmly,  but  in  a  monotonous  tone  of  voice, 
that  he  is  going  on  famously,  that  his  eyes  are  already  moist, 
his  eyelids  are  heavy,  and  that  he  feels  a  pleasant  sensation  of 
warmth  in  his  legs  and  arms.  Then  one  tells  him  to  look  at  the 
thumb  and  index  finger  of  the  hypnotist's  left  hand,  which  one 
depresses  unnoticeably,  so  that  the  lids  follow.  If  the  eyelids 
fall  to  of  their  own  account  soon,  one  has  gained  one's  end.  If 
not,  one  says,  "  Close  your  eyes."  Some  practitioners  let  the 
patient  look  at  them  for  a  longer  time. 

One  can  then  continue  by  following  Vogt's  procedure,  or  one 
can  also  lift  up  an  arm,  and  lean  it  against  the  wall  or  against 
the  patient's  head,  declaring  that  it  is  rigid.  It  is  best  to  state 
at  once  that  the  hand  of  the  raised  arm  will  be  absolutely  irre- 
sistibly drawn  against  the  head,  as  if  the  latter  were  a  magnet. 
Should  this  not  succeed,  one  must  help  a  little;  one  becomes 
very  definite  and  intent  in  suggesting ;  one  suggests  at  the  same 
time  disappearance  of  thought,  obedience  of  the  nerves,  feeling 
well,  rest,  and  slumber.  As  soon  as  one  notices  that  one  or 
the  other  of  these  suggestions  is  beginning  to  work,  one  must 
use  it  and  lay  emphasis  on  it,  and  at  times  it  will  be  well  to 
require  the  patient  to  indicate  his  own  experience  by  movements 
of  the  head.  Every  suggestion  which  elicits  the  reply  "  Yes  " 
in  the  early  stages  is  an  important  achievement,  and  one  must 
use  it  for  all  the  following  suggestions :  "  You  see,  it  is  working 
very  well.  Your  slumber  is  getting  sounder.  Your  arm  gets 
more  and  more  rigid.  You  cannot  depress  it  now."  The  patient 
tries  to  do  so,  with  some  result ;  one  then  quickly  prevents  him 
from  doing  this,  and  states :  "  On  the  contrary,  if  you  try  to 
bring  it  down,  it  only  moves  toward  your  head.  Look  here, 
I  attract  it  toward  your  head,"  etc.  It  is  wise  to  avoid  the 
suggestion  of  catalepsy  of  the  arm  at  first  in  very  critical  and 
refractory  people.  After  some  practice,  one  soon  can  recog- 
nize when  it  is  safe  to  risk  this. 

I  regard  it  as  a  mistake  to  make  the  patient  fix  his  eyes  on 
an  object  for  long,  as  a  rule.  I  rarely  do  this  for  more  than 
one  minute,  and  then  only  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  sitting. 
Later  on,  it  suffices  always  to  look  at  the  person  to  be  hypne- 


GROSSMANN'S  METHOD  183 

tized  for  one  or  two  seconds  at  the  most,  and  to  give  the 
suggestion  of  sleep  at  the  same  time.  As  a  rule,  I  simply 
declare,  "  You  are  asleep,"  making  a  movement  of  my  hand 
in  front  of  the  patient's  eyes,  and  the  subject  is  immediately 
hypnotized. 

Grossmann1  details  his  method  of  hypnotizing  as  follows : 
"  First  of  all,  I  suggest  suggestibility  to  every  patient.  I 
find  it  best  to  deal  with  the  skeptic  with  the  following  little 
experiment:  I  say  to  him  that  I  am  going  to  press  on  his 
conjunctiva  with  my  finger,  although  he  will  scarcely  believe 
it,  without  producing  any  reflex  closure  of  the  lids — that  is, 
without  his  blinking.  The  experiment  nearly  always  succeeds, 
for,  as  I  have  pointed  out  in  a  previous  work,2  the  conjunctiva 
of  almost  every  person  becomes  anaesthetic  by  fixing  at  the 
same  time  the  attention  on  this  sort  of  suggestion.  The  fact 
that  the  suggestion  has  succeeded  frequently  increases  the  sug- 
gestibility to  such  an  extent  that  the  command  to  sleep,  simply 
following  at  once  on  this,  suffices  to  cause  hypnosis  to  appear 
forthwith.  In  other  cases  I  get  the  patient  to  sit  on  a  chair, 
without  leaning  back,  or,  still  better,  to  rest  on  a  sofa  in  a  half- 
sitting,  half-lying  position,  and  to  fix  me  intently  with  his  eyes 
for  a  few  seconds.  I  then  suggest  to  him  that  he  feels  a  sensa- 
tion of  warmth  traversing  his  limbs,  and  especially  that  his 
arms,  which  are  resting  on  his  knees,  are  becoming  as  heavy  as 
lead.  Having  said  this,  I  raise  them  a  little,  catching  hold  of 
them  by  the  wrists,  and  cause  them  to  fall  suddenly  by  a  slight 
push  of  my  hands.  They  fall  back  on  the  knees  apparently  as 
heavy  as  lead,  and  the  patient  actually  feels  a  marked  tiredness 
in  his  arms ;  this  I  have  had  confirmed  by  nearly  every  one.  If 
I  do  not  observe  the  somewhat  dazed  expression,  or  traces  of  it, 
which  may  only  last  for  a  few  seconds,  I  then  employ  the  prin- 
cipal trick.  I  ask  the  patient  to  close  his  eyes,  or  I  close  them 
myself  quickly;  then  I  seize  his  wrists,  the  forearms  being 
flexed  upward,  and  suggest  that  he  is  becoming  so  tired  that 
he  can  no  longer  keep  up,  but  must  sink  back.  I  gradually 
press  him  backward  myself  by  imperceptible  pushes,  until  his 

1  Grossmann,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Hypnotismus,  vol.  i.,  1892-1893,  p.  410. 

2  Ibid.,  "The  Results  of  the  Suggestion  Treatment  in  Influenza."     (Berlin: 
H.  Brieger,  1892.) 


184  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

head  is  resting  on  the  back  of  the  chair,  and,  provided  that  it 
is  still  necessary,  give  the  command  to  sleep. 

It  is  best  to  touch  the  painful  part  (head,  abdomen,  etc.) 
with  the  right  hand,  and  to  declare  at  the  same  time  that  the 
pains  are  disappearing;  one  then  asks  the  patient  during  the 
hypnosis  about  the  result,  and,  if  possible,  one  does  not  leave 
off  until  this  is  complete — at  all  events,  for  the  moment.  One 
often  has  to  use  several  different  suggestions,  and  should  possess 
talent  for  invention.  Everything  succeeds  at  once  with  persons 
who  are  very  suggestible,  while  one  has  much  difficulty  with 
others. 

One  must  first  see  that  one  induces  anaesthesia  and  amnesia 
after  awakening  as  rapidly  as  possible.  It  is  true  that  many 
cure  suggestions  succeed  without  these  two  results.  But  one 
can  attain  one's  aim  more  rapidly  and  better,  on  the  average, 
with  them.  One  usually  prevents  the  patient  from  carrying 
over  the  thread  of  his  conscious  logic  from  the  hypnosis  to  the 
waking  condition,  and  the  reverse,  by  means  of  amnesia. 

An  important  duty  of  the  hypnotist  is,  further,  to  prevent 
the  harmful  results  of  autosuggestions.  Persons  who  are  anx- 
ious and  nervous,  and  more  especially  hysterical  persons,  are 
apt  to  imagine  autosuggestions  of  harmful  actions  as  a  result 
of  the  first  hypnosis.  This  is  particularly  likely  if  they  have 
learned  a  lot  of  this  kind  of  thing  from  newspapers  or  from 
other  people.  They  become  giddy  after  the  hypnosis,  or  they 
feel  themselves  dazed,  or  they  have  a  feeling  of  fear,  or  head- 
ache, trembling,  or  twitchings  appear,  which  may  even  increase 
into  convulsions.  One  must  take  great  care  to  avoid  showing 
anxiety  or  concern  should  such  a  condition  appear,  lest  one 
increases  and  cultivates  the  autosuggestion  thereby.  On  the 
other  hand,  one  must  state  with  the  utmost  firmness  and  confi- 
dence that  these  things  are  only  stupid  little  events,  which  occa- 
sionally turn  up  during  the  first  hypnosis,  but  which  can  be 
removed  at  once,  and  which  will  never  again  recur.  And  while 
one  is  saying  this,  one  suggests  away  these  phenomena,  down 
to  the  smallest  detail,  by  means  of  an  immediate  renewal  of  the 
hypnosis.  One  must  not  allow  any  part  of  it  to  remain,  and 
should  always  remember  that  everything  which  is  produced 


GENERAL  HINTS  185 

by  suggestion  can  also  be  removed  bj  suggestion,  if  this  is  done 
in  time,  and  if  it  is  not  allowed  to  be  retained  by  autosugges- 
tion or  habit.  Hypnosis  should  only  be  employed  for  short 
periods  and  not  frequently  for  such  persons,  or  for  hysterical 
individuals  generally,  and  only  therapeutic  suggestions  should 
then  be  given. 

I  lay  great  stress  on  this  procedure.  I  am  absolutely  con- 
vinced that  want  of  knowledge  of  this  or  ignoring  it  is  responsi- 
ble for  the  unintentional  damages  ascribed  to  hypnosis  of  which 
we  read  in  the  literature  on  the  subject.  I  have  personally  seen 
a  case  of  trembling  and  pain  in  an  arm  which  was  produced  by 
this  sort  of  unskillful  hypnotizing  on  the  part  of  an  inexperi- 
enced young  man;  it  lasted  for  a  few  months,  but  was  then 
completely  removed  again  by  suggestion. 

In  my  experience,  one  achieves  more,  as  a  rule,  with  hysterics 
by  skillfully  applied  suggestions  during  waking  than  one  does 
by  means  of  formal  (announced)  hypnosis.  The  old  rule 
remains  the  same:  kind,  consistent,  and  firm.  One  must  gain 
the  sympathy  of  the  hysterical  person,  and  at  the  same  time 
require  respect  from  him.  One  must  never  scoff  at  him,  or 
show  him  any  mistrust,  repulsion,  or  contempt,  or  else  one  will 
damage  him  considerably.  But  one  must  be  just  as  careful  not 
to  spoil  him,  and  not  to  attach  much  importance  to  his  attacks, 
pains,  etc.  One  speaks  confidently  of  cure,  insists  that  he  will 
obey  implicitly,  and  then  one  guides  him  imperceptibly,  by 
tickling  his  ambition,  etc.,  into  an  occupied  mode  of  living, 
and  into  healthy  hygienic  habits  by  giving  him  therapeutic 
hygienic  suggestions  whenever  one  comes  into  contact  with  him. 
One  should  employ  medicaments  as  seldom  as  possible,  and 
never  have  recourse  to  narcotics.  I  wish  to  deduce  the  maxim 
from  all  these  facts  that  medical  practitioners  who  are  still  inex- 
perienced in  dealing  with  suggestions,  and  especially  young 
practitioners  who  so  far  have  had  but  little  general  experience, 
should  avoid  attempting  their  first  hypnotic  experiments  on 
hysterical  persons. 

That  one  can  do  harm  by  suggestion,  if  one  wishes  to,  is  obvi- 
ous, and  is  only  the  reverse  of  the  curative  action  of  suggestion. 
One  can  suggest  headache,  disturbances  of  menstruation,  etc., 


186  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

just  as  well  as  one  can  suggest  them  a  way.  But  if  one  wishes 
only  to  do  good,  one  must  never  speak  to  a  hypnotized  person 
of  the  possibility  of  doing  harm,  and,  on  the  contrary,  always 
state  firmly  and  unconditionally  that  suggestion  can  only  act 
for  good.  In  this  way  one  removes  the  harmful  autosuggestions 
in  the  best  manner,  and  preserves  a  healthy  suggestive  atmos- 
phere around  the  patient. 

One  must  avoid  the  "  occurrence  of  self -hypnosis,"  the  sup- 
posed "  weakening  of  the  will-power,"  and  other  things  of  this 
kind,  by  the  same  means  of  counter-suggestion.  The  danger  of 
these  things  are  always  being  held  up  as  arguments  against 
therapeutic  hypnotism.  Only  on  one  occasion,  while  I  was 
still  a  beginner,  did  a  person  whom  I  had  hypnotized  fall  into 
a  hypnotic  sleep  of  his  own  account.  He  received  such  an 
energetic  suggestive  lecture  from  me  in  return  that  the  affair 
was  not  repeated.  If  one  admits  the  right  of  existence  of  such 
phenomena  in  one's  environments,  they  will  soon  be  repeated, 
not  only  in  the  same  patient  (as,  for  example,  in  the  hypnotized 
hysterical  girl  of  von  Krafft-Ebbing) ,  but  also  in  others.  This 
can  be  seen  in  Dr.  Friedrich's  results,1  who  hypnotized  by  false 
methods  and  with  preconceived  notions.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  self-hypnosis  suggested  by  means  of  an  amulet  is  not 
dangerous.  However,  one  must  limit  the  duration  of  this  to 
a  few  minutes  by  means  of  suggestion,  and  only  allow  it  to 
take  place  through  the  intermediation  of  the  amulet  and  for 
definite  treatment  purposes,  with  the  permission  of  the  doctor. 

One  must  always  suggest  perfect  health,  cheerful  mood,  good 
sleep,  good  appetite,  and  strengthening  of  the  will.  Besides 
this,  one  should  always  bear  in  mind  Bernheim's  and  Liebeault's 
rules: 

1.  To  insist  on  having  at  least  one  suitable  witness  for  every 
hypnotizing,  as  a  protection  for  the  hypnotist  as  well  as  for  the 
person  hypnotized.2 

1  Doctor  Friedrich,  "Annals  of  the  General  Hospital  in  the  Town  of  Miin- 
chen,"  1894.     The  article  of  Doctor  Friedrich,  which  is  directed  against  the 
therapeutic  application  of  hypnotism,  proves  conclusively  that  the  author 
has  fallen  into  all  the  errors  which  one  should  avoid,  and  that  he  has  com- 
pletely misunderstood  the  whole  question. 

2  Special  exceptions  in  which  absolute  mutual  trust  can  be  relied  on  may 
take  place  under  especial  conditions. 


BERNHEIM'S  AND  LIEBEAULT'S  RULES  187 

2.  To  give  the  suggestion  to  all  very  suggestible  persons 
(somnambulists)  that  no  one  else  can  hypnotize  them. 

3.  Not  to  hypnotize   any  one   without  first   obtaining  his 
spoken  permission.  / 

4.  Only  to  give  suggestions  for  therapeutic  purposes,  as  long 
as  legal,  scientific,  or  didactic  purposes  do  not  enter  into  the 
question. 

I  have  called  attention  to  many  baneful  suggestions  which 
are  exercised  unconsciously  by  medical  practitioners  by  their 
expressions  of  face,  by  their  examinations  and  prognoses.1 
Bernheim  has  also  done  the  same.  I  am  fully  aware  that  I 
once  suggested  a  gastric  ulcer  to  a  patient  in  whom  I  suspected 
this  condition  by  having  a  serious  countenance,  and  by  care- 
fully palpating  the  region  of  the  stomach,  and  ordering  rest  in 
bed  and  milk  diet.  I  suggested  the  site  of  the  pain  by  means  of 
a  pointed  question,  and  the  result  of  my  want  of  knowledge  of 
suggestion  at  the  time  was  that  the  patient  was  confined  to  her 
bed  for  many  months  of  a  suggested  illness  which  was  not  really 
present.  The  patient  proved  herself  later  on  to  be  an  excellent 
somnambulist.  Hysterical  cough,  hysterical  attacks,  diseases 
of  the  stomach,  uterine  disturbances,  constipation,  and  nervous 
disorders  of  all  kinds  are  frequently  suggested  in  this  manner 
by  anxious  practitioners,  who  are  apt  to  take  serious  views  of 
cases,  or  are  autosuggested  by  the  patients  themselves.  There 
is  no  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  this. 

That  one  can  suggest  hysterical  attacks,  for  example,  even 
without  using  words,  by  means  of  unskillful  manipulations  has 
long  been  recognized.  We  have  all  reported  this,  and  it  has 
been  confirmed  by  Dr.  Friedrich  in  a  striking  manner.  But 
when  one  understands  suggestion,  one  gets  accustomed,  not  to 
produce  it,  but  to  remove  it. 

On  one  occasion  a  hystero-epileptic  woman  was  brought  to 
me  with  the  history  of  several  severe  attacks  daily  during  the 
past  seven  years,  and  of  total  incapability  for  work.  I  was 
called  to  her  during  the  first  attack  in  the  asylum,  hypnotized 
the  patient  during  the  attack,  and  declared  that  the  attacks 

'Forel,  "Unconscious  Suggestion."  (American  Journal  of  Psychology, 
vol.  iv.,  No.  4,  1893.) 


188  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

had  definitely  ceased  from  that  time,  and  that  the  disease  was 
cured.  No  further  attack  took  place,  and  after  a  few  weeks 
the  patient  left  the  asylum.  For  two  and  a  half  years  she 
remained  perfectly  well.  She  then  again  complained  of  some 
hysterical  symptoms,  and  consulted  a  doctor.  The  latter  told 
her  during  the  treatment  that  the  attacks  would  certainly  recur, 
and  the  attacks  did  recur.  She  then  begged  to  be  admitted  into 
the  asylum  again,  and  arrived  in  1894.  I  again  removed  the 
attacks  at  once  by  means  of  a  few  hypnoses ;  she  was  discharged 
cured,  and  has  remained  well  since.  Comments  on  this  case 
are  superfluous. 

Dr.  Weil,  of  Berlin,1  has  written  an  excellent  little  article  on 
the  suggestive  action  of  "  prognosis."  Of  course,  a  bad  progno- 
sis, which  some  practitioners  give  to  the  poor  patients  without 
consideration,  is  frequently  tantamount  to  producing  a  further 
illness;  not  infrequently  it  hastens  the  death  of  the  patient. 

Weil  reminds  us  with  perfect  justification  that  the  patient 
who  says  to  his  medical  attendant,  "  Doctor,  I  want  to  know  the 
whole  truth ;  I  am  prepared  for  anything ;  tell  me  what  I  have 
to  expect,"  etc.,  really  deceives  himself,  and,  at  all  events, 
usually  only  wishes  to  hear  a  comforting  lie  from  the  doctor. 
The  medical  practitioner  must  be  a  psychologist  in  this  case, 
and  his  duty,  as  a  rule,  is  to  conceal  his  conviction,  and  even 
to  lie  at  times.2  But,  besides,  every  practitioner  should  realize 
how  far  he  is  from  being  infallible,  and  this  should  help  him 
to  allow  the  patient  to  retain  hope  without  lying.  There  exist 
certain  exceptions  under  definite  circumstances,  and  with  very 
strong-minded  characters,  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  psycholo- 
gist to  find  out. 

One  must  always  study  the  individual  suggestibility  of  one's 
hypnotized  persons  closely,  adapt  one's  self  to  this,  and  not  pro- 
ceed in  accordance  with  fixed  rules. 

If  one  wishes  to  employ  suggestive  anaesthesia  for  surgical 
purposes,  one  must  first  prepare  the  patient  by  a  few  hypnotiz- 
ings.  When  he  does  not  feel  pricks  of  the  needle  in  the  palm  of 

1  Weil,  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus,  vol,  i.,  1892-1893,  p.  395. 

"Compare  Mark  Twain  "On  the  Decay  in  the  Art  of  Lying.  Selected 
Sketches:"  "The  liar  who  is  most  to  be  pitied  is  the  one  who  persuades  him- 
self that  he  always  speaks  the  truth,  for  he  lies  to  himself  as  well  as  to  others." 


HYPNOSIS   FOR   SURGICAL  OPERATIONS  189 

the  hand,  or  even  touching  of  the  cornea,  he  is  ready  for  the 
operation ;  but  one  must  avoid  exciting  him  by  extensive  prepa- 
rations for  the  operation,  for  one  will  thus  risk  completely 
desuggesting  him.  I  have  often  seen  this.  One  should  hypno- 
tize him  beforehand,  and  represent  the  operation  as  a  mere 
nothing  or  as  a  joke,  and  then  one  should  allow  it  to  take  him 
by  surprise  as  far  as  is  possible.  During  the  operation  one  must 
continuously  go  on  suggesting  anaesthesia  and  deadness  of  the 
affected  part. 

If  the  suggestion  fails  in  a  person,  one  should  desist  after 
four  or  five  sittings.  It  sometimes  succeeds  later,  or  if  another 
hypnotist  tries. 

One  must  not  continue  to  hypnotize  a  person  ad  infinitum 
mechanically ;  one  only  loses  and  does  not  gain  anything.  One 
should  attempt  to  attain  the  maximum  effect  rapidly  in  a  few 
sittings.  One  must  then  reduce  the  number  of  hypnotizings 
gradually,  which  at  first  were  carried  out  every  day,  and  then 
leave  off,  having  represented  the  result  which  one  has  gained 
as  definite  and  lasting.  There  are,  however,  some  obstinate 
cases,  accompanied  by  a  small  degree  of  suggestibility,  in  which 
one  succeeds  after  a  long  time,  if  one  perseveres.  Still,  every- 
thing has  its  limits.  If  the  patient  fails  to  see  any  further 
result,  he  will  often  become  desuggested,  and  one  loses  one's 
influence  instead  of  increasing  it.  The  hypnotist  and  the  hyp- 
notized become  tired  out.  One  must  always  try  to  find  some- 
thing new,  and  to  bring  this  to  pass  until  one  has  achieved  one's 
aim,  and  then  gradually  to  break  off. 

The  hypnotized  often  become  desuggestionized  by  autosug- 
gestions, as  well  as  by  insinuation  of  other  people  or  writings 
which  find  fault  with  hypnotism.  They  frequently  become  so 
because  the  hypnotist  himself  loses  courage  and  ardor.  How- 
ever, one  can  usually  regain  what  one  has  lost  by  means  of  a 
little  energy  and  trouble.  It  will  be  found  not  infrequently 
that  the  results  are  better  if  one  interrupts  the  sittings  for  a 
good  long  time. 

Hypnotism  may  be  applied  therapeutically,  as  Bernheim 
has  rightly  pointed  out,  not  only  by  itself,  but  also  in  conjunc- 
tion with  other  remedies.  Many  of  these  latter  can  be  employed 


190  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

as  auxiliary  means  to  suggestion,  or  directly  as  the  suggestion 
itself.  It  is  certain  that  a  large  number  of  medicaments  from 
time  immemorial  have  acted  solely  and  only  by  suggestion. 
Homoeopathy  is  a  speaking  instance  of  this,  and  electrotherapy 
is  almost  as  striking  an  example. 

Many  a  pain  which  will  not  budge  in  response  to  simple 
suggestion  can  be  removed  by  aqua  colorata  or  mica  panis. 
Bernheim,  Moebius,  and  Wetterstrand  have  proved  most  bril- 
liantly that  the  so-called  metallo-therapeutics  and  a  large  pro- 
portion of  electricity  only  act  by  suggestion. 

I  have  repeatedly  emphasized,  and  Bernheim  has  done  the 
same,  that  suggestion  is  not  a  panacea  which  cures  all  ills.  If 
one  expects  everything  of  it,  one  will  be  disappointed.  It  is  of 
paramount  importance  for  every  hypnotizing  practitioner  never 
to  forget  that  the  first  duty  which  has  been  imposed  on  him 
by  his  academic  studies  and  by  his  diploma  is  the  duty  of 
scientific  thoroughness,  and  also  of  careful  examination  and 
making  of  the  diagnosis;  but  he  must  remember  that  neither 
of  these  consists  in  mere  scientific  terms  and  belief  in  authori- 
ties. One  can  attain  much  by  suggestion,  especially  if  one  uses 
it  with  perseverance,  intelligence,  and  medical  knowledge,  and 
if  one  understands  how  to  combine  suggestion  with  other  means. 
For  example,  if  one  does  not  succeed  in  curing  stammering 
completely  by  suggestion  alone,  one  should  combine  it  with  a 
systematic  course  of  exercises  (breathing,  vowel,  and  consonant 
exercises).  If  one  does  not  succeed  in  curing  a  lady  of  sea- 
sickness by  verbal  suggestion  alone,  one  should  rock  her  during 
the  hypnosis  thoroughly,  and  at  the  same  time  give  her  the 
suggestion  of  enjoying  it.  One  will  then  probably  succeed. 
The  electric  current  is  an  excellent  means  of  applying  sugges- 
tion, but  the  holy  water  of  Lourdes,  the  "  prayer  "  treatment, 
Father  Kneipp's  method,  and  homoeopathy,  are  not  less  good. 
I  propose  giving  a  list  of  those  morbid  conditions  here  which 
seem  to  me  to  respond  best  to  suggestion,  although  the  indica- 
tions have  by  no  means  been  sufficiently  tested,  and  much  will 
certainly  have  to  be  added  to  it : 

Spontaneous  somnambulism. 

Pains   of   all   descriptions,    especially   headache,   neuralgia. 


INDICATIONS  191 

sciatica,  toothache  which  does  not  depend  on  an  abscess, 
etc. 

Sleeplessness. 

Functional  paralyses  and  contractures. 

Organic  paralyses  and  contractures   (as  palliative  means). 

Chlorosis  (extremely  favorable). 

Disturbances  of  menstruation  (metrorrhagia  and  amenor- 
rhoea). 

Loss  of  appetite,  and  all  nervous  digestive  disturbances. 

Constipation  and  diarrhoea  (provided  that  the  latter  does  not 
depend  on  catarrh  or  fermentation).  Gastric  and  intestinal 
dyspepsia  (including  pseudo-dilatation). 

Psychical  impotence,  pollutions,  onanism,  perverted  sexual 
appetite,  and  the  like. 

Alcoholism  and  morphinism  (only  by  the  suggestion  of  total 
abstinence). 

Chronic  muscular  and  arthritic  rheumatism,  lumbago. 

The  so-called  neurasthenic  disturbances. 

Stammering,  nervous  disturbances  of  the  vision,  blepharo- 
spasm. 

Pavor  nocturnus  of  children. 

Sickness  and  seasickness,  the  vomiting  of  pregnancy. 

Enuresis  nocturna  (often  very  difficult,  on  account  of  the 
depth  of  the  normal  sleep). 

Chorea. 

Nervous  attacks  of  coughing  (also  in  emphysema). 

Hysterical  disturbances  of  all  kinds,  including  hystero- 
epileptic  attacks,  anaesthesia,  "  phobias,"  and  the  like. 

Bad  habits  of  all  kinds. 

All  hypochondriacal  parsesthesia3,  irritable  weaknesses,  con- 
ceptions of  impulse,  and  the  like,  are  more  difficult  to  cure. 

According  to  Wetterstrand,  epilepsy,  haemorrhages,  etc.,  can 
also  be  influenced. 

Suggestion  may  be  tried  in  all  pure  functional  nervous  dis- 
turbances. 

Many  other  illnesses  have  been  enumerated  in  the  literature 
of  the  subject.  The  reader  can  read  these  for  himself  in  the 
articles  of  Liebeault,  Bernheim,  Wetterstrand,  Ringier,  and 


192  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

others,  in  the  various  yearly  volumes  of  the  Zeitschrift  fur 
Hypnotismus  (Leipzig:  Ambrosius  Barth).  The  list  given 
above  will  suffice  for  every  one  to  begin  with,  and  later  one 
forms  one's  own  indications.  One  should,  however,  also  men- 
tion the  production  of  anaesthesia  for  small  surgical  operations, 
especially  on  the  fauces  and  oral  cavity,  and  also  for  labor. 

I  was  enabled  to  visit  my  colleague,  Dr.  Wetterstrand,  in 
Stockholm  in  the  autumn  of  1890 ;  what  I  saw  of  his  work  was 
so  highly  interesting  and  instructive  that  I  trust  he  will  forgive 
me  if  I  give  some  details  of  it  here.  He  has  considerably 
improved  Liebeault's  method,  not  only  by  means  of  going 
deeply  scientifically  into  the  cases,  and  by  thoroughness  and 
sharper  criticism,  but  also  in  erecting  practical  appliances.  He 
has  two  large  rooms,  which  communicate  with  one  another  by 
means  of  a  door,  and  in  which  all  conduction  of  sound  is  enor- 
mously subdued  by  thick  carpets,  etc.  They  contain  numerous 
sofas,  armchairs,  and  couches.  From  nine  to  one  daily  the 
patients  come  in  streams  to  Dr.  Wetterstrand;  they  are  first 
carefully  examined,  and  if  they  are  found  to  be  suitable  cases, 
conducted  into  the  two  rooms.  First,  those  patients  who  have 
previously  been  hypnotized  are  again  treated.  The  suggestions 
are  whispered  into  their  ears  by  Wetterstrand  so  softly  that 
only  the  person  for  whom  they  are  intended  can  hear  them.  In 
this  way  Wetterstrand  achieves  the  powerful  suggestion  action 
of  the  sight  of  the  number  of  people  being  so  rapidly  put  to 
sleep,  and  avoids  the  disturbance  of  the  mass  action  of  the 
suggestions — i.e.,  of  each  suggestion,  which  is  only  suitable  for 
one  patient,  but  which  is  heard  by  the  others,  as  in  Nancy.  If 
Wetterstrand  wishes  to  give  one  suggestion  to  two  or  more 
patients,  he  raises  his  voice  correspondingly.  The  newly 
arrived  patients  look  about  them  with  astonishment,  and  see 
how  all  the  others  go  to  sleep  in  response  to  the  slightest  sign 
or  awaken  again,  and  observe  the  beneficial  results.  When 
Dr.  Wetterstrand  comes  to  them  after  a  considerable  time,  they 
are  already  so  far  suggested  that  the  hypnosis  practically  never 
fails.  He  owes  his  excellent  results  to  this  method  (ninety- 
seven  per  cent,  of  all  the  patients,  numbering  some  three  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  forty-eight,  were  hypnotically  influenced,. 


WETTERSTRAND'S  METHOD  193 

against  only  three  per  cent,  who  remained  uninfluenced). 
Wetterstrand  prefers  to  allow  his  patient  to  sleep  for  a  long 
time,  and  believes  that  it  is  more  advantageous  to  produce  as 
deep  an  hypnosis  as  possible,  with  amnesia.  I  agree  with  him. 
I  have  witnessed  some  astonishing  cures  in  his  practice,  and  am 
convinced  that  they  are  due,  not  only  to  his  striking  person- 
ality, his  consistency,  and  his  patience,  but  also  to  a  great 
extent  to  his  excellent  method.  I  had  recognized  long  before 
that  I  lost  a  considerable  portion  of  the  advantages  of  the  sug- 
gestion in  the  way  in  which  I  used  to  hypnotize  some  patient 
or  other,  accidentally,  as  it  were,  in  the  interval  between  various 
other  work.  It  was  impossible  for  me  to  have  managed  it 
otherwise.  But  I  had  never  realized  how  the  majority  of  fail- 
ures could  be  avoided  by  his  method  so  clearly  until  I  visited 
Wetterstrand.  One  ought  to  devote  one's  self  entirely  for  hours 
to  the  matter;  one  should  allow  each  patient  to  influence  the 
other,  and,  at  the  same  time,  one  should  observe  and  take  notes 
on  everything  without  missing  a  single  advantage  or  hint  which 
would  lead  to  a  deeper  action  in  each  patient.  In  this  way 
one  will  achieve  the  maximum  action  for  every  patient.  While 
I  was  with  Wetterstrand  I  saw  an  hypochondriacal  melancholic 
influenced  within  a  short  time  by  his  perseverance  and  by  the 
surroundings.  This  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  results  to  obtain. 
In  reading  Wetterstrand's  book1 — e.g.,  in  the  passage  where  he 
describes  his  unique  cures  of  morphinism — some  people  may 
become  very  skeptic.  If  I  had  not  seen  him  operate,  I  should 
very  probably  have  entertained  considerable  doubts.  But  it  is 
only  in  respect  of  the  epilepsy  cases  that  I  still  harbor  any 
doubts,  and  these  arise  from  the  question  of  diagnosis. 

I  wish  to  express  considerable  reserve  with  regard  to  this 
last-named  point.  I  certainly  believe  that  only  certain  cases 
are  curable  by  suggestion.  In  one  case,  with  a  long  aura,  I 
have  since  succeeded  in  controlling  the  aura  and  in  curing  the 
epilepsy.  Carl  Graeter2  succeeded  in  recalling  the  memory  of 
an  amnesic  period  in  an  extremely  instructive  case  of  an 

1  Wetterstrand,  "  Hypnotism  and  its  Application  in  Practical  Medicine." 
(Vienna:   Urban  and  Schwarzenberg,  1891.) 

2  Carl  Graeter,  "  A  case  of  Epileptic  Amnesia  removed  by  Hypnotic  Hyper- 
amnesia,"  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus,  vol.  viii.,  No.  3,  1897. 


194  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

epileptic,  without  the  least  doubt,  by  means  of  hypnosis.  But 
the  epilepsy  was  not  cured. 

Both  Wetterstrand1  and  Bernheim  emphasize  that  one  is  apt 
greatly  to  undervalue  the  palliative  action  of  suggestion  in 
producing  sleep  and  in  quieting  pain  in  severe  incurable 
diseases,  such  as  tuberculosis,  cancer,  etc.  I  would  wish  to  add 
that  one  underestimates  very  vastly  its  enormous  value  in 
everyday  medicine  as  an  aperient,  as  a  means  of  procuring 
appetite  and  sleep,  and  as  a  regulator  of  digestion,  secretion, 
and  menstruation. 

It  is  invaluable  in  these  conditions,  and  is  quite  harmless, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  scandalous  abuse  which  so  many 
practitioners  make  of  narcotics  and  alcohol.  One  can  produce 
sleep  even  in  high  fever  by  suggestion. 

Ringier2  has  divided  the  two  hundred  and  ten  cases  which 
he  has  treated  into  the  following  groups: 

1.  Dynamic  neuroses,  of  a  motor,  vasomotor,  and  secretory 
nature. 

2.  Dynamic  sensory  neuroses,  neuralgias. 

3.  Sleeplessness. 

4.  General  cerebral  neuroses  (or  mild  psychoses). 

5.  Rheumatic  affections. 

6.  Intoxications. 

7.  Various  cases. 

Of  these: 

Cases 

(1)  Cured,  with  a  report  later  that  the  cure  had 

lasted 73 

(2)  Cured,  without  a  subsequent  report 15 

(3)  Considerably  improved,  with  or  without  sub- 

sequent report 64 

(4)  Somewhat  improved,  with  or  without  subse- 

quent report 19 

(5)  Failure  of  the  hypnosis,  or  not  improved ...  25 

(6)  Interruption  of  treatment,  mostly  early. ...  12 

(7)  Hypnosis  for  surgical  cases 2 

Total 2!1<3 

1  Wetterstrand,  "  Hypnotism  and  its  Application  in  Practical  Medicine." 
(Vienna:  Urban  and  Schwarzenberg,  1891.) 

3  Ringier,  "  Results  of  Therapeutic  Hypnotism  in  Country  Practice." 
(Miinchen:  Lehmann,  1891.) 


THE   O.   P.   CLASS  IN  ZURICH 


195 


Bingier  complains  with  justification  about  the  unsatisfac- 
tory results  of  the  frequent  early  interruption  of  the  treatment 
in  country  practice.  The  majority  of  the  improved  would 
have  undoubtedly  been  cured  if  they  had  persevered. 

Among  the  number  of  interesting  tables,  the  following 
deserve  special  notice :  twenty-seven  recurrences  among  the  con- 
siderably improved,  nine  recurrences  among  the  slightly  im- 
proved, so  that  he  had  thirty-six  recurrences,  all  of  which 
belong  to  the  patients  who  were  only  improved. 


Degree 

Cure  -with 
subsequent 
Report 

Cure  with- 
out Report 

Consider- 
able Im- 
provement 

Slight  Im- 
provement 

Failure 

Somnolence  

Per  cent. 
18  75 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 
6  25 

Per  cent. 
6  25 

Per  cent. 
43  75 

Hypotaxis  

24.45 

8.62 

31.89 

14.21 

12.07 

Somnambulism  and  deep 
sleep  

48.05 

5.19 

33.76 

6.49 

5.19 

Of  two  hundred  and  nine  hypnotized  persons  (in  one  case 
there  are  no  details  on  these  points),  sixteen  fell  into  the  condi- 
tion of  somnolence,  one  hundred  and  sixteen  fell  into  the  condi- 
tion of  hypotaxis,  and  seventy-seven  fell  into  the  condition  of 
somnambulism  or  deep  sleep. 

In  addition  to  this,  Ringier  met  with  twelve  completely 
refractory  persons  out  of  a  total  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-one ; 
in  these  a  suggestive  treatment  could  not  be  undertaken  on  this 
account. 

The  results,  expressed  in  percentages,  work  out  as  follows : 

Refractory 5.43 

Somnolence 7.24 

Hypotaxis 52.49 

Somnambulism  and  deep  sleep 34.84 

The  duration  of  the  treatment,  expressed  in  the  number  of 
sittings,  is  given  as  follows: 

In  94  cases  only  1  sitting 

"  43       "  "  2  sittings 

«  23       "  "  3        " 

«  j2       "  "  4        " 


196  HYPNOTISM    AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

In     4  cases  only  5  sittings 

"      8       "        "6        " 

"      1  case      "      7        " 

"      4  cases     "      8        " 

"21       "      more  than  8  sittings 

Of  the  last-named,  one  case  was  treated  in  thirty-five  sittings, 
one  in  twenty-one,  and  one  in  twenty,  while  all  the  rest  were 
treated  in  less  than  twenty  sittings. 

These  tables  disprove  most  conclusively  the  contention  of  our 
adversaries  who  try  to  compare  suggestive  therapy  with  the 
morphine  habit. 

The  above  are  only  a  few  summary  extracts  of  some  of  the 
many  tables  which  Dr.  Bingier  has  compiled  with  the  utmost 
statistical  exactness  from  all  points  of  view,  and  which  show 
the  matter  in  a  critical  light.  His  chief  aim  was  to  adhere 
strictly  to  objective  observation,  and  not  to  allow  his  results 
to  appear  too  favorable.  These  results  confirm  those  of  his 
predecessors  and  mine. 

I  used  to  teach  suggestive  therapy  in  my  out-patient  class 
for  medical  students  in  Zurich  every  Saturday  from  2 :  30  to 
4.  The  patients  were  derived  from  the  town.  I  first  examined 
them,  and  then,  imitating  Wetterstrand's  example,  made  them 
all  sit  in  armchairs  in  the  presence  of  the  students.  I  began 
with  those  who  had  already  been  hypnotized  previously,  and 
thus  I  saved  myself  from  having  to  prepare  the  new  patients. 
When  the  new  patients'  turns  arrived,  they  were,  as  a  rule, 
already  so  much  influenced  that  they  fell  asleep  at  once.  Like 
Bernheim,  I  explained  to  the  apparently  refractory  patients 
that  they  were  already  influenced,  and  that  sleep  was  not  neces- 
sary in  their  cases.  I  then  employed  amulets,  pieces  of  metal, 
and  the  like  at  times,  together  with  suggested  currents ;  in  this 
way  nearly  all  of  them  became  hypnotized  after  one  or  two 
sittings  (some  of  them,  I  must  admit,  however,  only  became 
hypotactic).  I  have  not  prepared  a  statement  of  the  cases  and 
results,  on  account  of  want  of  time,  although  I  obtained  very 
good  therapeutic  results.  I  may  point  out  that  these  results 
were  obtained  in  this  simple  way  in  spite  of  the  disturbing  pres- 
ence of  the  students  (many  of  the  patients  were  embarrassed 


THERAPEUTIC   RESULTS  197 

by  this),  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  I  only  hypnotized  once  a  week 
(sometimes  twice  in  the  more  difficult  cases),  and  in  spite  of  the 
necessity  of  giving  the  suggestions  aloud  for  teaching  purposes, 
as  well  as  in  spite  of  the  unsuitable  quality  of  the  cases. 

From  the  year  1898  to  1905  I  have  only  occasionally  treated 
a  few  patients  in  Chigny,  in  the  country,  by  suggestion  accord- 
ing to  Wetterstrand's  system.  In  all,  the  number  of  patients 
has  reached  236.  Of  these,  only  4  proved  themselves  to  be 
absolutely  refractory  (1.7  per  cent.)  ;  19  (8.0  per  cent.)  became 
only  more  or  less  somnolent;  146  (61.9  per  cent.)  became 
hypotactic;  and  67  (28.4  per  cent.)  became  somnambulic.  A 
large  number  were  unsuitable,  hopeless  cases ;  others  only  came 
once  or  twice,  and  then  stayed  away,  so  that  the  statistics  of 
the  results  and  failures  do  not  prove  much.  The  number  of 
somnambulists  would  have  been  considerably  increased  if  the 
material  had  been  better  and  if  they  had  had  more  patience. 

In  summing  up  the  cases,  one  finds  the  following  (c.  = 
cured,  i.  =  improved,  u.  =  uninfluenced)  : 

1.  Actual  psychoses,   twenty  cases,   naturally  without  any 
visible  result.     In  two  cases  of  paranoia,  however,  the  subjec- 
tive   symptoms   were    materially    improved.     (Both    of    them 
implored  me  to  hypnotize  them.)     One  idiot  was  cured  of  his 
migraine.     In  one  case  of  deeply  rooted  periodic  melancholia 
I  succeeded  in  stopping  the  attacks  as  they  were  setting  in  by 
suggestion  for  a  time,  after  the  onset  of  the  attacks  had  first 
been  delayed.     After  the  course  of  some  weeks,  however,  they 
again  returned.    Ringier  had  succeeded  some  time  ago  in  cur- 
ing a  mild  early  case  of  periodic  melancholia,  which  I  myself 
had  diagnosed,  by  suggestion  applied  in  the  intervals.     This 
does  not  prove  much.     But  these  observations  are  nevertheless 
worth  recording. 

2.  Various  psychopathies  (constitutional).     By  "cured"  I 
mean  the  curing  of  the  pathological  symptoms  for  which  I  was 
consulted  in  these  cases.     There  were  twenty-three  cases,  of 
which  one  was  refractory  and  two  failed  to  turn  up  a  second 
time.     Of  the  remaining  twenty,  c.  =  6,  i.  =  8,  and  u.  =  6. 

3.  Hypochondriasis,    18    cases.      One    patient    disappeared 
immediately,  and  of  the  remainder,  c.  =  4,  i.  =  7,  and  u.  =  6. 


198  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

4.  Hysteria,  29  cases.     One  patient  failed  to  return.     Of 
the  remaining  28,  c.  =  15,  i.  =  8,  and  u.  =  5. 

Two  hysterical  married  people  were  already  improved,  but 
nagged  each  other  with  autosuggestions,  and,  in  consequence, 
went  away  uncured. 

5.  Astasia-abasia   (a  nervous  disturbance  of  standing   and 
walking,  mostly  due  to  hysteria),  1  case:  improved. 

6.  Delusions   of   impulse,   4  cases :  c.  =  1,   1    disappeared, 
u.  ^  2  (these  latter  also  did  not  return  after  a  short  time). 

7.  Stammering,  4  cases:  i.  =  3,  somewhat  improved  =  1. 

8.  Blepharospasm,  1  case:  improved. 

9.  Facial     neuralgia,     2     cases :     c.  ^  1,     somewhat     im- 
proved =  1. 

10.  Epilepsy,  5  cases:  uninfluenced. 

11.  Intercostal  neuralgia,    1   case:   cured    (a  female   aged 
seventy-three). 

12.  Writer's  cramp,  2  cases :  i.  =  1,  u.  =  1. 

13.  Cardiac  neuroses,  2  cases:  cured. 

14.  Various  neuroses,  14  cases :  c.  =  5,  i.  =  3,  and  u.  =  6. 

15.  Sleeplessness,  22  cases,  of  which  1  was  refractory  and  1 
failed  to  return.     Of  the  remaining  19  cases,  c.  =  14,  i.  =  5. 

16.  Enuresis   nocturna,   7   cases:   c.  =  2,  i.  =4,   1   disap- 
peared. 

17.  Profuse  menstruation  of  increased  frequency,  4  cases: 
c.  =  3,  and  i.  =  1.     In  one  case  the  menses  were  definitely 
regulated  for  the  first  of  each  month,  and  to  last  for  three 
days. 

18.  Obstinate  cephalalgias,  11  cases:  c.  =  11.    One  case  was 
associated  with  contracted  kidney  and  albuminuria,  and,  not- 
withstanding this,  was  permanently  cured.     Two  further  cases 
were  due  to  overwork  at  school.     One  of  these  was  that  of  a 
young  man  who  was  suffering  so  severely  that  he  was  nearly 
compelled  to  give  up  his  studies.     I  succeeded  in  again  making 
him  capable  of  working  well  after  a  fortnight,  so  that  he  passed 
his  matriculation  a  few  months  later,  without  any  return  of 
the  headaches. 

19.  True  neurasthenia  (according  to  Beard) — i.e.,  cerebral 
exhaustion  following  overwork — 3  cases :  c.  =  2,  a  little  im- 


THERAPEUTIC  RESULTS  199 

proved  =  1.  The  last  case  was  not  a  pure  one ;  it  was  compli- 
cated with  satyriasis  and  psychopathy.  But  in  its  place  one 
could  include  the  two  cases  tabulated  under  18.  A  psychopathic 
disposition  was  discernible  in  all  the  cases,  although  this  was 
not  extreme.  In  three  of  the  four  pure  cases  the  cause  lay  in 
overwork  at  school  on  the  classical  side,  while  in  one  the  cause 
of  the  exhaustion  lay  in  overwork  at  school  on  the  modern  side ; 
in  all  four  the  pupils  were  preparing  for  an  examination.  I 
suggested  to  the  subjects  in  all  cases  to  leave  off  learning  things 
"  off  by  heart,"  and  also  to  follow  their  school-work  as  an  intel- 
lectual game,  in  which  they  should  take  a  great  interest  in  their 
subjects.  I  further  suggested  away  the  examination  nervous- 
ness, and  substituted  for  this  good  sleep,  good  appetite,  and 
coolness,  presence  of  mind,  and  ease  at  the  examination.  This 
had  the  desired  result,  and  was  both  in  place  and  justifiable  in 
connection  with  the  antediluvian  system  of  study  and  examina- 
tion which  is  unfortunately  still  common,  and  which  is  espe- 
cially to  be  met  with  in  our  classical  schools  (Gymnasien). 

20.  Impotence,  4  cases:  c.  =  3,  u.  =  1.     One  of  these  cases 
occurred  in  a  married  man  who  was  formerly  continent,  but  who 
was  psychopathic.     During  his  whole  life  he  had  only  had 
pollutions  during  sleep,  but  had  not  experienced  orgasm  during 
waking.     Thus,  he  suffered  from  impotentia  coeundi,  in  spite 
of  libido.    I  first  succeeded  in  obtaining  good  erections  during 
hypnosis.     Then  the  complications  in  the  wife  were  dealt  with 
by  operation  (hymen  and  vaginismus).     Coitus  was  not  quite 
successful  during  the  hypnosis,  but,  as  the  result  of  suggestions, 
was  attained  after  consistent  stages  in  the  course  of  time.     Two 
pregnancies  of  the  wife  have  assured  the  result  already;  the 
children  are  healthy. 

21.  Constipation,  8  cases :  c.  =  4,  i.  =  2,  u.  =  2  (among  the 
last  there  was  one  case  in  which  I  was  only  able  to  produce 
slight  somnolence). 

22.  Perverse  sexual  appetite,1  1  acquired  case,  with  excel- 

1 1  only  employ  suggestion  in  congenital  cases  from  ethical  reasons,  to 
lessen  the  impulse  and  to  soothe,  etc.  I  regard  the  attempt  to  divert  impulse 
toward  the  opposite  sex  as  inadmissible,  and  the  same  applies  to  marriage 
(see  Forel,  "The  Sexual  Question,"'  Rebman  Company,  New  York).  For 
this  reason,  one  cannot  speak  of  a  cure  in  these  cases. 


200  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

lent  result.    Normal  libido,  with  dreams  corresponding  to  this, 
were  obtained.     Supposed  cases,  7 :  i.  =  4,  u.  =  3. 

23.  Sciatica,   4  cases :   c.  =  1,   u.  =  3.      The   latter  three 
patients  interrupted  the  treatment  after  one  or  two  sittings. 

24.  Digestive  disturbances,  5  cases.     One  case  disappeared 
at  once.     Of  the  other  4,  c.  =  2,  i.  =  1,  and  u.  =  1. 

25.  Chorea,  2  cases:  i.  =  1,  u.  =  1. 

26.  Chlorosis,  1  case:  cured. 

27.  Rheumatic  pains,  2  cases:  cured. 

28.  Osteo-arthritis,  1  case,  which  was  not  cured,  as  was  to 
be  expected.     The  patient  was  only  hypnotized  a  few  times,  in 
order  to  satisfy  her  desire  for  this. 

29.  Asthma,  attacks  of  giddiness,  "  area  celsi,"  with  neuro- 
pathy, 4  cases,  all  not  cured.     One  curable  case  disappeared 
at  once,  and  one  incurable  case  did  likewise.     In  one  case  of 
asthma  which  had  previously  been  successfully  treated  by  a 
colleague   of   mine,    disturbing    phenomena    appeared    as    the 
result  of  the  long  way  the  patient  had  to  come,  and  these  led 
to  autosuggestions  and  failures.    The  fourth  case  was  that  of  a 
severe,  almost  idiotic  psychopathic  condition. 

30.  Phobias,  5  cases :  c.  =  3,  and  i.  =  2. 

31.  Sexual  anesthesia,  2  cases:  uninfluenced.     In  one  case, 
which,  however,  was  not  quite  complete,  a  very  slight  improve- 
ment was  noticed. 

32.  Onanism,  6  cases :  c.  ^  2,  and  i.  =  4. 

33.  Sexual  hyperaethesia,  2  cases :  c.  =  1,  and  i.  =  1. 

34.  "  Exhibitionism,"  1  case :  improved. 

35.  "  Psederosis "    (sexual    impulse    directed    toward    chil- 
dren), 1  case:  not  cured. 

36.  Nervous  diarrhoea,  2  cases,  both  of  which  were  cured. 
The  one  case  was  complicated  by  opium-poisoning,  due  to  a 
prescription  error  on  the  part  of  a  practitioner. 

37.  Lumbago,  1  case:  cured. 

38.  Pathological  jealousy,  1  case:  cured. 

39.  Alcoholism,  1  case:  improved. 

40.  Myelitis,   1  case.     I  attempted  to  allay  the  pains,  in 
response  to  the  urgent  requests  of  the  patient's  family.     Occa- 
sionally there  was  a  slight  symptomatic  result,  but  the  case 


ALCOHOLISM  201 

must  be  tabulated  under  "  not  cured."  The  patient,  a  female, 
was  fairly  suggestible. 

41.  Paedagogic  treatment,  1  case.  A  ten-year-old  schoolboy, 
who  got  up  to  boyish  pranks,  and  was  inattentive,  as  a  result 
partly  of  the  pedantic  method  of  teaching,  and  partly  of  the 
suggestions  of  other  naughty  boys.  The  result  was  marked. 

I  refer  the  reader  for  further  hints  on  practical  suggestive 
treatment  to  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus  (1892  to  1901), 
edited  by  Dr.  Oscar  Vogt.  The  interesting  casuistic  and  critical 
articles  of  Messrs.  Brodmann,  Bruegelmann,  Loewenfeld, 
Rauschburg,  Delius,  Tuckey,  Bonjour,  Ringier,  Bramwell, 
Baur,  Graeter,  Monier,  Inhelder,  Hilger,  van  Straaten,  Seif, 
Cullerre,  and  others,  ought  to  be  mentioned  here.  I  cannot 
enter  into  the  details  of  these  articles  in  this  place;  all  of 
them  appear  in  the  journal  named  above.  The  Zeitschrift 
has  recently  been  amalgamated  with  the  Journal  fur  Psycholo- 
gie  und  Neurologic,  under  the  same  editorship. 

Alcoholism  and  Morphinism. — Lloyd  Tuckey1  and  Hirt 
recommend  suggestion  in  the  treatment  of  alcoholism.  I  must 
caution  against  a  crass  misunderstanding  in  this  place.  It  is  an 
absolutely  idiotic  and  harmful  undertaking  to  try  to  convert 
a  "  soaker  "  into  a  moderate  drinker  by  means  of  suggestion,  as 
Hirt  advises.  One  sins  against  the  First  Commandment  for 
a  lasting  result  of  the  suggestion  therapy,  by  allowing  the 
damaging  cause  of  the  illness  to  persist  after  the  result.  There 
are,  it  is  true,  no  rules  without  exceptions,  and  it  is  possible 
that  in  rare  cases  a  not  consummate  drinker  may  be  rendered 
moderate  in  this  way,  provided  that  he  has  been  led  to  abuse 
alcohol  as  a  result  of  definite  circumstances,  and  not  from 
hereditary  causes  nor  from  psychopathic  conditions.  But  in 
the  large  majority  of  cases  one  will  experience  relapses  sooner 
or  later,  on  account  of  the  contra-suggestion  induced  by  the 
enjoyment  of  alcohol  and  by  being  "  sociable."  I  have  observed 
this  repeatedly  in  drunkards,  who  attempt  to  begin  again  to 
drink  moderately.  The  majority  of  drunkards  are,  besides, 
individually  predisposed,  and  become  incapable  of  resisting 

1  Lloyd  Tuckey,  "  The  Value  of  Hypnotism  in  Chronic  Alcoholism."  (Lon- 
don: Churchill,  1892.) 


202  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

alcohol  from  habit.  If  suggestion  is,  therefore,  to  be  of  real 
use  in  the  treatment  of  alcoholism,  one  must  suggest  definite 
and  complete  abhorrence  of  all  spirituous  liquors,  lifelong  total 
abstinence  from  the  same,  and,  if  possible,  the  joining  a  tem- 
perance society.  Tuckey  agrees  with  me  in  this  respect;  and 
the  secret  of  the  renowned  and  costly  "  gold  cure  "  of  alcoholics 
by  Keeley  is  undoubtedly  to  be  found  in  this  idea.  Keeley 
did  not  suggest  moderation  for  his  patients;  he  suggested  com- 
plete abhorrence  for  all  spirituous  liquors. 

One  does  the  same  in  the  treatment  of  the  morphine  habit, 
except  for  the  belonging  to  a  society.  But  there  is  no  tempting 
sociability,  no  compulsion  to  drink  in  company  for  the  mor- 
phine-takers, as  there  is  for  alcoholists.  For  this  reason  the 
suggestive  sociability  of  the  temperance  society,  which  is  devoid 
of  alcohol,  is  so  important  for  the  latter. 

I  myself  have  converted  many  a  drunkard  to  abstinence  by 
means  of  suggestion.  Still,  as  Bonne1  has  justly  said,  the 
abstaining  medical  practitioner  suggests  infinitely  better,  since 
his  example  and  his  inward  conviction  assist  the  suggestion.  I 
have  shown  the  good  results  statistically  of  suggestion  in  alco- 
holism as  long  ago  as  in  1888.2 

1  Bonne,  Wien.  Med.  Presse,  No.  45,  1901. 
a  Forel,  Munch.  Med.  Woch.,  No.  26,  1888. 


CHAPTER   VII 

HYPNOTISM    AND    PSYCHOTHEEAPY 

SINCE  suggestion  has  gained  a  certain  recognition  in  medicine 
some  curious  opinions  have  been  aired.  The  doctor  and  also 
the  medical  student  hear  a  lot  about  suggestion,  and  read  of  it 
occasionally,  too.  The  subject  is  often  discussed  theoretically 
in  leisure  hours,  but,  with  a  very  few  exceptions,  it  is  neither 
taught  nor  learned  in  the  schools.  Those  who  pass  judgment 
on  it  rarely  possess  any  practical  experience. 

Arising  out  of  this  superficial  discussion,  a  kind  of  official 
axiom,  spoken  with  the  utmost  authoritative  arrogance,  is  met 
with.  This  axiom  takes  something  of  the  following  shape : 

Waking  suggestion,  or  psychotherapy,  is  a  very  important 
and  proper  thing,  and  every  capable  medical  man  must  have 
some  acquaintance  with  it;  it  has  actually  been  intuitively 
known  from  the  earliest  times.  But  hypnotism  is  quite  another 
matter;  it  is  a  suspicious  thing,  is  unscientific,  humbugging 
quackery — is,  at  all  events,  disreputable,  or  it  is  harmful  or 
even  dangerous. 

This  sounds  irresistibly  comical  to  those  who  are  acquainted 
with  suggestion.  A  surprising  superficiality  and  a  remarkable 
psychological  shortsightedness  are  really  required  to  construe 
two  different  things  out  of  a  common  matter.  It  is  really  imma- 
terial in  judging  the  nature  of  psychotherapy  whether  a  some- 
what larger  or  smaller  dose  of  sleep  is  suggested.  The  person 
who  is  influenced  psychotherapeutically  is  placed  under  a  sug- 
gestive influence — i.e.,  his  brain  dynamics  are  used  as  the 
source  of  energy  for  dissociatively  influencing  all  those  dis- 
turbances which  depend  more  or  less  on  the  brain,  either 
directly  or  indirectly.  Whether  this  is  called  hypnosis  or 
psychotherapy  is  a  matter  of  no  importance. 

203 


204  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

For  example,  Professor  Dubois  has  launched  forth  into  an 
overbearing  effusion  of  this  kind  in  the  C orrespondenzblatt  fur 
Schweizer  Aerzte  of  February  1,  1900.  This  author  has 
already  been  sufficiently  disproved  by  Dr.  Ringier,  who  proved 
to  him  that  the  hypnotizing  practitioners  actually  do  and  teach 
just  those  things  which  he  imagines  he  could  teach  them. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  dispute  that  there  are  swindlers  who 
hypnotize,  and  that  there  are  hypnotists  who  employ  verbal 
suggestion  unintelligently,  mechanically,  and  without  sufficient 
individualizing.  But  the  same  sin  is  met  with  in  every  branch 
of  medicine,  as  is  well  known,  and  it  is  a  mean  and  unworthy 
slander  to  throw  the  whole  art  over,  as  Dubois  does,  instead  of 
dealing  with  the  individual  who  offends,  and  to  support  one's 
self  in  this  on  such  subtleties  as  the  derivation  of  the  word 
"  suggestion,"  or  on  general  suspicion. 

I  wish  further  to  warn  one  not  to  cast  about  general  psycho- 
logical and  psychopathological  words,  such  as  "  will,"  "  nervous- 
ness," "  neurasthenia,"  "  psychical,"  etc.,  in  the  way  that 
Dubois  and  others  have  done.1 

Dubois2  elaborated  his  views  in  1904  in  a  book.  This  book, 
which  was  adapted  to  the  fashion  of  the  moment,  deserves  a 
few  words.  It  is  smartly  written,  and  contains  the  personal 
experience  of  the  author  in  psychotherapy,  as  well  as  views 
which  one  can  find,  sometimes  even  with  almost  identical  words, 
in  Bernheim's  book  and  in  the  former  editions  of  this  work 
(especially  the  third  and  fourth  editions,  1895  and  1902).  I 
ask  the  reader  to  compare  them.  At  every  opportunity  the 
author  attacks  the  professional  hypnotist  (les  hypnotiseurs  de 
profession)  and  hypnotism  in  general  in  an  odious  and  over- 
bearing manner,  although  his  whole  book  consists  of  views  which 
are  only  slightly  modified  from  those  of  the  hypnotists.  He 
claims,  certainly,  that  he  appeals  to  the  "  reason "  and  the 
"  will "  of  his  patients,  and  that  he  does  not  suppress  both  of 

1  For  example,  I  may  quote  the  following  phrase  of  Dubois':   "Nervous- 
ness, under  which  term  I  recognize  hysteria,  neurasthenia,  and  all  related 
mixed  forms,  is  a  psychical  disorder,  an  altered  condition  of  mood."     Every- 
thing thus  is  thrown  into  one  bag,  no  matter  whether  it  be  incurable  hypo- 
chondriasis  or  an  easily  curable  case,  and  everything  is  an  "  altered  condition 
of  mood."     No  more  need  be  said. 

2  Dubois,  " Les  PsychoneVroses  et  leur  traitement  moral."     (Masson,  Paris: 
1st  edition,  1904;   2nd  edition,  1905.) 


DUBOIS  ON  HYPNOTISM  205 

these,  or  even  turn  the  patients  into  machines  devoid  of  will, 
as  these  wicked  hypnotists  do.  Curious!  We  all  say  and  do 
exactly  the  same  thing.  Not  a  single  one  of  my  patients  nor 
any  of  the  patients  of  my  hypnotizing  colleagues,  is  turned  into 
our  "  will-less  "  machine.  I  have  emphasized  this  for  many 
years.  Only  a  few  somnambulists  who  have  always  been  weakly 
have  become  relative  and  merely  transitory  will-less  machines. 
These  persons  are  used  as  subjects  for  scientific  experiment, 
or  are  produced  as  curiosities  at  certain  Barnum  shows.  And 
what  about  the  "  free-will "  which  Dubois  respects  so  much  ? 
He  claims  to  be  a  monist  (using  my  own  arguments,  but  without 
even  mentioning  my  name !),  and  does  not  believe  in  the  "  free- 
dom "  of  the  will.  But  the  most  remarkable  thing  of  all  is  that 
Dubois  imagines  that  he  only  influences  his  patients  by  means 
of  reasoning.  Does  he  really  believe  this?  Why  should  he, 
then,  treat  them  personally  as  well  ?  A  short  theoretical  expla- 
nation would  suffice  to  effect  a  cure.  Does  he  really  not  realize 
that  his  tone,  his  personality,  his  therapeutic  reputation,  act  as 
the  moving  and  intuitive  hypoconceived  suggesting  factors  ? 
Professor  Dubois  slangs  hypnotism  and  suggestion,  while  in 
reality  he  actually  practices  suggestion  from  alpha  to  omega, 
only  in  a  slightly  different  form.  Dr.  !N".  once  attacked  the 
wandering  magnetizers,  from  whom  he  had  learned  to  hypno- 
tize. The  late  Professor  Delboeuf,  of  Luettich,  took  the  part 
of  the  latter,  and  reproached  N".  "  for  gnawing  at  his  mother's 
breast,  which  had  nourished  him."  I  must  admit  that  the 
expression  was  somewhat  brusque.  It  appears  to  me  that  Dubois 
deserves  to  receive  a  similar  reproach.  Curiously  enough,  he 
does  not  slang  the  wandering-show  hypnotist  Krause,  who  pre- 
tends to  produce  waking  suggestion,  so  that  he  does  not  come 
into  contact  with  the  law  of  the  canton  of  Berne ;  but  he  reserves 
his  displeasure  for  his  colleagues,  who  did  the  same  as  he  does, 
honestly  and  long  before  him,  even  if  it  be  under  another  flag. 
Only  Bernheim  finds  some  favor  in  his  eyes. 

Dubois  erroneously  calls  the  milder  cerebral  neuroses,  such 
as  hysteria,  phobias,  neurasthenia,  etc.,  "  psycho-nevroses " 
(psychoneuroses).  As  is  well  known,  the  word  "  psychoneu- 
roses  "  had  long  ago  been  used  by  Griesinger  and  others  to  indi- 


206  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

cate  functional  or  severe  mental  disturbances  or  psychoses 
(Vesanien),  so  that  if  it  were  employed  for  other  conditions  it 
would  lead  to  a  most  horrible  confusion.  Dubois  deals  also  with 
psychiatry  in  a  deprecating  way,  although  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  studied  the  subject  closely;  for  he  mentions  things  as 
his  views  which  have  been  recognized  by  the  asylum  doctors  for 
a  century,  or  which  have  been  disproved  by  them  long  ago. 
According  to  Dubois,  conviction  enters  through  the  front-door 
of  the  mind,  while  suggestion  enters  by  the  back-door.  This 
sounds  very  pretty  as  an  attempt  to  blacken  the  doctrine  of  sug- 
gestion ;  but  the  entrance-doors  through  the  senses  are  in  reality 
the  same  for  both.  And  when  the  hypnotist  tells  his  patient 
openly  and  honestly,  as  all  of  us  do,  that  he  acts  on  his  hypocon- 
scious  brain  activity  in  order  to  cure  his  illness,  he  is  more 
truthful  toward  the  patient  than  if  he  acts  as  if  the  latter  did 
not  exist,  and  pretends  to  speak  solely  to  the  patient's  reason 
and  freewill.  It  is  absolutely  false  for  the  hypnotist  to  speak  in 
this  way,  since  he  really  acts  by  means  of  suggestion.  I  wish  to 
bring  this  home  to  Professor  Dubois.  Dubois  writes  the  follow- 
ing, for  example :  "  Quoi  de  plus  absurde  que  de  s'endormir  en 
plein  jour ;  alors  qu'on  n'a  aucun  besoin  de  sommeil,  en  cedant 
betement  a  Finjonction  d'un  hypnotiseur."  He  continues  to 
abuse  in  this  style  those  who  have  taught  him.  Why  on  earth 
should  it  be  absurd  to  be  put  to  sleep  for  half  an  hour  during 
the  day  if  one  is  nervously  excited,  as  long  as  one  is  composed 
thereby,  and  as  the  night  sleep  and  the  steadiness  of  the  nerves 
can  be  restored  ?  According  to  Dubois,  the  condition  of  sleep 
is  "stupidity"  (see  p.  176  of  Dubois'  work).  I  wonder 
whether  he  goes  to  sleep!  A  little  later  on  he  states  that  one 
should  rely  on  one's  reason  and  watch  the  condition  of  one's 
mind,  in  order  to  avoid  autosuggestions — that  this  is  better  than 
being  able  to  be  cured  by  suggestion.  We  certainly  do  rely  on 
our  reason,  but  we  do  not  cure  autosuggestions  in  this  way  alone. 
And  it  is  absolutely  false  to  insinuate  that  we  render  people 
less  reasonable  and  more  suggestible  by  therapeutic  hypnotizing. 
On  the  contrary,  we  remove  pathological  brain  dynamisms,  and 
thus  render  the  will  and  reason  freer.  Dubois,  in  his  one-sided 
bias,  goes  so  far  as  to  apply  the  term  "  thaumaturges  "  (con- 


DUBOIS  CRITICISED  207 

jurers)  to  his  hypnotizing  colleagues,  and  to  state  that  he  regards 
the  show-hypnotist  Krause  as  being  more  instructive  than  the 
hypnotizing  medical  practitioners.  I  do  not  know  with  which 
of  the  latter  he  has  become  acquainted,  nor  why  he  imitates  such 
stupid  people  as  we  are. 

There  is  one  sentence  of  Dubois'  which  I  cannot  withhold 
from  my  readers :  "  L'emotion  est  psychologique,  et  non  physio- 
logique ;  elle  est  intellectuelle  et  non  somatique."  He  has  even 
had  this  nonsense  printed  in  italics,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
professes  to  be  a  monist,  as  if  a  monist  could  recognize  some- 
thing psychological  which  does  not  correspond  to  a  physiological 
brain  activity. 

According  to  Dubois  "  a  true  savant,  an  intellectual  being, 
may  be  neurasthenic,  but  cannot  be  hysterical,"  because  the 
hysterical  are  never  logical.  I  protest.  There  are  some  ex- 
tremely logically-thinking,  gifted  hysterical  persons. 

Again,  in  melancholia  he  finds  the  most  characterized  psycho- 
sis ;  and  yet  he  allows  a  melancholic  to  remain  at  large  because 
"  he  is  a  foreigner,"  with  the  result  that  he  may  kill  himself. 
He  regards  hypochondriasis  as  being  nearly  related  to  melan- 
cholia. It  is  certain  that  there  is  hardly  a  single  asylum  doctor 
of  experience  who  would  endorse  this  opinion. 

Dubois  employs  the  suggestive  cure  for  constipation  as  the 
most  typical  action  of  his  psychotherapy  in  almost  the  same  way 
in  which  I  used  to  do  this,  and  dares  to  abuse  and  laugh  at  the 
hypnotizing  practitioners  from  whom  he  has  learned  this.  In 
this  he  again  uses  his  pet  word  "  persuasion  "  in  opposition  to 
"  suggestion."  But  it  is  just  in  this  that  every  one  who  has 
understood  what  I  have  written,  who  is  acquainted  with  the 
matter,  who  has  read  Dubois'  book,  and  who  is  not  prejudiced, 
must  realize  at  once  that  Dubois'  persuasion  is  precisely  the 
same  thing  as  suggestion.  He  mentions,  for  example,  one 
patient  whom  he  had  cured  of  constipation.  This  patient  feared 
that  he  might  have  a  relapse,  because  mid-European  time  had 
been  introduced  into  Switzerland,  and  the  altered  time  might 
interfere  with  the  methodical  time  of  his  daily  motion.  This 
patient  is  supposed  to  have  been  cured  of  his  constipation  by 
means  of  persuasion,  and  not  by  means  of  suggestion ! 


208  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

I  must  apologize  to  my  reader  if  I  have  detained  him  too 
long  with  Dubois'  psychonevroses  and  his  traitement  moral,  but 
it  was  absolutely  necessary.  Dubois  and  his  book,  as  well  as 
the  manner  of  belittling  hypnotism  and  those  who  deal  with 
it  honestly,  and  of  boasting  in  the  same  breath  of  a  "  psycho- 
therapy," are  all  becoming  one  of  the  well-known  fashionable 
complaints  which,  unfortunately,  attack  medicine  so  frequently. 
This  "  psychotherapy  "  is  only  a  piracy  of  the  doctrine  of  sug- 
gestion, which  is  frequently  a  very  bad  imitation,  and  is  also 
mostly  incomplete. 

One  has  to  analyze  very  exactly  and  to  individualize  to 
discover  what  the  form  of  the  original  disturbance  is  which 
lies  behind  the  manifold  neuropathological  phenomena ;  whether 
hysterical  dissociation,  hypochondriacal  conception  of  impulse, 
epileptic  constitution,  psychosis,  or  even  an  organic  cerebral 
disturbance,  take  part  in  the  process;  how  much  is  acquired 
and  how  much  inherited ;  what  part  the  real  exhaustion  of  the 
nerve  centers  play ;  and  so  on.  One  must  proceed  in  accordance 
with  what  one  finds. 

One  should  inquire  at  times  for  previous  emotional  psychi- 
cal traumata,  which  might  act  casually,  especially  when  deal- 
ing with  hysterical  disturbances,  if  one  follows  the  advice  of 
Freud.  However,  this  should  be  carried  out  with  great  cau- 
tion and  wariness,  for  one  can  easily  do  much  more  harm  than 
good  by  being  disregardful  of  tact  and  wise  behavior  in  asking 
questions  which  could  offend.  Freud  calls  those  earlier  emo- 
tional conceptions,  which  are  often  sexual,  and  which  continue 
hypoconsciously  to  influence  the  whole  personality  and  to  cause 
nervous  disturbances,  "  strangulated  emotions  "  (Eingeklemmte 
Affekte).  One  should  analyze  them  suggestively,  and  remove  the 
emotion  with  which  they  are  associated.  Still,  one  should  not 
construe  a  dogma  from  these  individual  phenomena,  as  Freud 
has  done. 

Psychotherapy  is  suggestive  therapy,  but  is  developed  in 
markedly  different  ways,  in  accordance  with  the  requirements 
of  the  cases.  The  usual  verbal  suggestion  will  mostly  suffice  to 
remove  a  simple  headache.  But  if  one  is  dealing  with  a  dispo- 
sition, one  will,  as  a  rule,  find  out  all  sorts  of  habits,  inherited 


INDIVIDUALIZING  209 

predispositions,  frames  of  mind,  etc.,  which  are  connected  with 
the  disposition;  it  then  becomes  the  function  of  psychotherapy 
to  regulate  this. 

It  has  become  fashionable  in  the  modern  nerve  sanatoria  to 
of  the  metabolism,  partly  on  suggestion,  and  partly  on  over- 
feeding, rest  treatment,  hydrotherapy,  electricity,  and  the  like. 
The  action  of  these  methods  depends  partly  on  the  acceleration 
of  the  metabolism,  partly  on  suggestion,  and  partly  on  over- 
feeding. They  are  for  the  most  part  very  expensive,  and  can 
generally  be  replaced  with  advantage  by  cycling,  walking  tours, 
climbing  expeditions  into  the  mountains,  bathing  in  the  open 
(sea  or  river),  and  by  sleep.  In  many  cases,  it  is  true,  the 
compulsion  of  obeying  methodically,  and  the  feeling  that  one 
must  be  receiving  something  in  return  for  one's  money,  do  good 
in  themselves.  But  the  greatest  disadvantage  of  these  methods 
of  treatment  is  that  after  they  have  terminated  the  old  routine, 
with  all  its  old  harmful  belongings,  frequently  begins  again. 

Psychiatry  has  learned  to  value  occupation  very  highly,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  agriculture,  as  an  important  remedy 
in  chronic  insanity. 

In  1894  I  myself,  together  with  the  engineer,  Mr.  Groh- 
mann,  recommended  an  occupation  treatment  for  nervous  pa- 
tients, and  P.  J.  Moebius  has  warmly  supported  this.  Mr. 
Grohmann  noticed  in  this  respect  that  a  combination  of  the 
suggestive  therapy  carried  out  by  Dr.  Bingier  with  his  mechani- 
cal occupations  was  frequently  of  value  for  the  patient. 

Lastly,  if  one  cannot  succeed  with  ordinary  verbal  suggestion 
or  with  the  extended  psychotherapeutic  influences,  among  which 
music,  mental  and  bodily  undertakings,  etc.,  play  a  part,  one 
will  have  to  intermingle  other  forms  of  treatment,  medicaments, 
massage,  and  the  like,  according  to  the  case.  For  example,  the 
Weir-Mitchell  rest-overfeeding  treatment,  which  can  work  ex- 
cellently in  true  exhaustion  of  mind  or  body,  may  actually  do 
a  great  deal  of  harm  if  it  is  applied  blindly  for  all  sorts  of  cases. 
Dubois,  who  formerly  employed  this  treatment  for  all  nervous 
patients,  has  converted  himself  to  my  views  in  this  respect  also, 
without  even  mentioning  my  name  (loc.  cit.). 

I  reported  some  interesting  psychotherapeutical  cases  with 


210  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

explanations  in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus  of  1902 
(vol.  x).  I  propose  mentioning  these  cases  here. 

My  principal  idea  in  planning  this  was  the  thought  that  it 
is  not  the  muscular  work  in  itself  which  acts  curatively  by 
diverting  the  brain  from  its  pathological  activities,  but  that  it 
is  chiefly  the  centrifugal  concentration  of  the  attention  on  the 
purposeful  muscular  innervation  resulting  in  an  occupation 
which  is  efficient,  and  which  satisfies  the  mind.  Muscular  work 
which  dulls  the  intellect,  such  as  hygienic  gymnastics,  dumb- 
bell exercises,  or  Indian  clubs,  etc.,  in  the  first  place  does  not 
satisfy,  and,  above  all,  does  not  prevent  the  attention  from  find- 
ing its  way  into  side  channels.  And,  besides,  this  kind  of  useless 
exercise  cannot  be  continued  permanently  as  a  calling.  The 
beneficial  action  of  useful  occupation,  especially  agricultural 
work,  for  the  insane  has  long  been  recognized. 

But  not  every  neuropathic  patient  is  fitted  for  gardening, 
carpentry,  or  agriculture,  and  the  pathology  of  the  brain  life 
is  by  no  means  exhausted  by  ordinary  suggestions  of  good  sleep, 
of  appetite,  and  of  normal  functions,  etc.  Furthermore,  one 
knows  that  genius  and  insanity  are  related.  But  even  if  it  is 
known  that  many  a  genius  has  died  of  insanity,  it  is  probably 
less  well  known  to  medical  practitioners  that  many  a  genius,  or 
at  least  talents,  lie  dormant  behind  the  cloak  of  certain  forms 
of  hysteria  and  other  psychopathic  conditions — that  these  lan- 
guish like  a  bird  in  a  cage.  It  is  generally  not  recognized  that 
the  usual  stereotype  treatment  of  the  nerve  doctors  paralyzes  the 
wings  of  the  bird  instead  of  freeing  them.  It  is  here,  if  any- 
where, that  a  correct  diagnosis  is  required,  and  that  an  individ- 
ualizing treatment  should  be  employed.  Not  every  one  who 
feels  that  he  is  a  genius  really  is  one.  It  requires  the  experi- 
ence of  the  asylum  doctor  to  discover  the  few  who  are  not  u  in 
themselves  failures  "  amongst  the  many  brains  which  are  suffer- 
ing from  delusions  of  exaltation  and  mental  weakness,  but 
which  are  possessed  of  a  full  share  of  exceptional  talent,  which 
has  only  been  limited  and  paralyzed  in  its  development  by 
certain  disturbances.  But  if  one  discovers  such  a  buried  treas- 
ure lying  in  obscurity  in  any  one  of  the  many  nervous 
patients  who  seek  help  (including  the  insane  or  encephalopathic 


EXAMPLES  211 

patients),  it  becomes  an  urgent  duty  to  depart  from  the  stereo- 
type methods,  and  to  give  the  eagle  back  his  wings.  Hypnosis 
and  occupation  with  manual  work  can  fulfill  excellent  services 
as  auxiliary  means  here.  But  they  do  not  form  the  principal 
factor.  One  must  gain  the  full  confidence  of  the  patient  by 
affection  and  intimately  insinuating  one's  self  into  all  sides  of 
his  mental  life;  one  must  sympathize  with  all  his  feelings,  get 
him  to  relate  the  whole  story  of  his  life,  live  it  all  over  again 
with  him,  and  enter  into  the  feelings  of  the  patient.  But  one 
must  naturally  never  lose  sight  of  the  sexual  aspect,  which 
differs  so  enormously  according  to  the  kind  of  person,  and 
which  may  form  an  actual  danger.  I  need  scarcely  mention 
that  the  doctor  has  to  be  on  his  guard  in  these  cases,  although 
this  is  a  very  important  point.  It  must  be  understood  that  it 
is  not  sufficient  to  follow  the  usual  stereotype  medical  control, 
which  consists  in  paying  attention  to  the  discharge  of  semen,  or 
coitus,  and  pregnancy ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  consider- 
ation carefully  all  the  higher  regions  of  the  intellect,  mood, 
and  will,  which  are  more  or  less  connected  with  the  sexual 
sphere.  When  this  has  been  carried  out,  one  has  to  map  out 
the  proper  definite  aim  in  life  for  the  patient,  and  start  him 
on  his  way  full  of  energy  and  confidence.  One  will  often  be 
surprised  to  see  all  the  psycho-pathological  disturbances  disap- 
pear as  if  by  magic,  and  to  see  an  active,  capable,  distinguished, 
valuable  person  develop  out  of  the  unhappy,  incapable,  nervous 
patient.  He  frequently  astonishes  his  colleagues  by  his  capacity 
for  work,  and  remains  a  true  friend  to  the  doctor  who  has 
treated  him.  Out  of  an  unhappy  man  a  happy  one  has  arisen ; 
out  of  a  failure  a  talented  one,  or  even  a  genius;  out  of  a 
diseased  person,  a  healthy  man. 

Let  me  now  pass  on  to  a  few  short  examples.  My  friends 
who  are  mentioned  here  may  recognize  themselves  in  the 
accounts,  but  in  the  interest  of  their  fellow-creatures  they  will 
forgive  me  for  this  publication. 

1.  A  very  highly  educated  young  lady,  daughter  of  a  gifted 
father  and  a  very  nervous  mother,  was  regarded  as  being  less 
talented  than  her  brothers  and  sisters.  She  had  always  been 
nervous,  and  became  increasingly  hysterical.  At  length  very 


212  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

severe  signs  of  paralysis  made  their  appearance,  and  she  was 
admitted  into  the  asylum  about  the  year  1892.  Having  been 
practically  cured  at  first  by  ordinary  hypnosis,  her  condition 
relapsed  after  some  months,  and  she  was  again  almost  totally 
incapable  of  walking.  She  was  again  cured  by  hard  agricul- 
tural work  with  peasants.  She  was  unhappy,  however,  not  to 
possess  a  definite  aim  in  life.  It  was  not  without  some  doubts 
that  I  agreed  to  her  following  her  ardent  wish  to  become  a 
nurse.  Her  parents  were  very  anxious  about  night  duty,  but 
this  was  carried  out  without  complaint  with  the  assistance  of 
a  few  suitable  suggestions.  She  entered  into  her  calling  with 
great  enthusiasm,  and  performed  her  duties  thoroughly,  no 
matter  how  hard  they  were,  and  became  more  and  more  active 
in  every  direction.  At  the  present  moment  she  is  one  of  the 
most  energetic  members  of  a  ladies'  committee  which  does  won- 
ders in  philanthropy. 

2.  A  medical  practitioner  suffered  for  a  long  time  from 
severe,  presumably  neurasthenic,  disturbances,  and  attempted 
in  vain  to  cure  himself  by  all  sorts  of  means.     He  came  to  me 
in  1894,  and  told  me  his  tale  of  woe.     I  encouraged  him, 
advised  him  not  to  take  any  notice  of  all  those  disturbances, 
and  impressed  him  with  the  high  aim  of  his  life.     We  agreed 
about  this.    He  went  away.     Later  on  he  wrote  to  me  that  he 
had  been  cured  by  this  single  conversation. 

3.  A  young  man,  with  a  moderately  marked  hereditary  taint, 
came  from  a  very  religious  family.     He  was  very  talented, 
and  developed  a  nervous  affection  which  bordered  on  insanity. 
He  made   a  desperate   attempt  to  commit  suicide,   and   was 
admitted  into  a  hospital  for  nervous  diseases,  after  he  had 
completely  given  up  his  studies.      The  prognosis   made  was 
very  gloomy.    He  was  absolutely  incapable  of  working,  suffered 
from  headache,  sleeplessness,  incapability  of  carrying  out  any 
kinds  of  mental  work  writh  attention.     He  took  no  notice  of 
what  he  read.     Gloomy  and  despairing,  he  still  did  not  show 
any  signs  of  melancholic  inhibition  and  the  like.     He  was  per- 
fectly aware  of  his  psychopathic  condition  and  of  the  failure 
of  his  existence.     He  had,  besides,  suffered  from  various  con- 
ceptions and  deeds  of  a  compulsory  nature,  which  had  led  him 


EXAMPLES  213 

into  difficulties.  He  was  brought  to  me  as  a  hopeless  case  in 
the  year  1895.  I  was  soon  struck  by  the  young  man's  gifts. 
More  intimate  association  with  him  revealed  to  me  that  his 
inmost  being  was  absolutely  dissatisfied.  Although  he  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  very  strict  orthodox  manner,  he  found  that 
he  could  not  believe  in  those  religious  dogmata,  and  in  conse- 
quence thought  himself  cast  out  and  lost.  Besides  this,  the 
routine  way  in  which  he  was  compelled  to  study  and  in  which 
he  had  been  brought  up  was  distasteful  to  him.  His  life  seemed 
to  him  to  have  no  aim.  First  of  all,  I  eased  his  mind  about 
religion,  and  showed  him  that  one  can  be  a  happier  and  more 
useful  person  without  adopting  any  positive  beliefs.  Next,  I 
showed  him  that  simply  learning  things  by  heart  was  the  essence 
of  insipidity,  and  that  taking  an  intellectual  interest  in  a  sub- 
ject represents  a  much  higher  standard.  I  told  him  not  to  try 
to  learn  any  more,  but  only  to  investigate,  to  read  those  things 
which  interested  him  without  bothering  whether  he  remem- 
bered them  or  not.  In  this  way  I  restored  his  self-confidence 
and  also  some  enjoyment  of  life.  He  began  to  read  his  books 
with  pleasure  and  interest,  instead  of  learning  out  of  them  in 
a  nauseating  sort  of  wray.  He  began  to  live  afresh  as  a  philoso- 
pher and  free-thinker.  He  then  became  an  enthusiastic  temper- 
ance advocate,  and  assisted  me  in  founding  new  abstinence 
organizations.  My  patient,  whom  I  had  at  first  been  compelled 
to  have  watched  on  account  of  suicidal  tendencies,  soon  became 
my  friend  and  fellow-worker.  The  nervous  disturbances  disap- 
peared one  after  the  other,  and  after  a  time  he  undertook,  with 
my  consent,  a  prolonged  journey  by  himself  in  a  hot,  uncivilized 
country  in  order  to  complete  his  convalescence,  and  returned 
completely  cured  and  self-confident.  He  then  recommenced  his 
studies,  a  few  years  later  passed  his  final  examination  with 
honors  in  all  subjects,  was  admired  by  all  his  comrades  on 
account  of  his  enormous  capacity  for  work,  and  is  now  lead- 
ing a  perfectly  regulated,  normal  life. 

4.  An  hysterical  lady,  who  was  very  talented  and  might 
almost  be  considered  to  have  been  a  genius,  consulted  me  many 
years  ago  in  Zurich.  She  had  been  psychopathic  from  child- 
hood onward,  and  suffered  from  attacks  of  classical  hysteria, 


214  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

and  became  very  excited  from  various  causes,  especially  by 
having  to  live  with  a  near  relative.  She  preferred  to  remain 
single  for  various  reasons  of  wisdom,  although  she  had  had 
ample  opportunities  of  getting  married.  I  attempted  hypnosis. 
This  set  in  with  deep  hysterical  sleep,  and  convulsions  began 
to  manifest  themselves.  I  awakened  her  with  difficulty  and 
force,  and  said  to  her  boldly  that  the  result  was  even  more 
powerful  than  would  have  been  expected;  she  would  soon 
recover,  only  she  had  been  rather  too  strongly  influenced.  From 
this  time  onward  I  only  used  suggestion  to  her  during  the  wak- 
ing condition.  After  quite  a  short  time  almost  all  the  symptoms 
had  disappeared,  including  the  obstinate  constipation  from 
which  she  had  suffered,  and,  what  is  of  importance,  including 
the  attacks  also.  I  explained  to  her,  notwithstanding,  that  work 
was  the  most  important  thing  for  her,  and  that  she  must  have 
a  definite  object  in  life.  She  did  not  wish  to  have  a  family, 
but  had  long  been  interested  in  a  certain  philanthropic  work. 
We  then  took  up  this  subject.  Instead  of  ordering  baths,  elec- 
tricity, and  massage,  I  gave  her  a  number  of  books  dealing 
with  the  subject  of  her  pet  theme,  and  also  introduced  her  to 
the  exponents  of  this  and  similar  undertakings.  She  plunged 
herself  into  the  work  with  enthusiasm,  and  displayed  marked 
interest  in  all  the  details,  as  well  as  considerable  understanding 
and  an  astonishing  capability  for  work.  She  improved  day 
by  day,  and  left  us  after  a  few  weeks.  Later  on  she  achieved 
very  important  results  within  a  short  time  in  her  philanthropic 
undertakings. 

5.  An  accomplished  young  man,  of  hysterical,  impulsive  con- 
stitution, became  ill  as  a  result  of  mental  excitement  which  was 
caused  by  painful  circumstances.  A  number  of  different,  appar- 
ently very  severe  mental  disturbances  followed  one  another,  and 
among  these  was  on  one  occasion  a  complete  delusion  of  persecu- 
tion with  hallucinations.  He  had  been  ill  for  two  years  in  all 
before  he  came  to  me.  The  bad  prognoses  which  had  been 
given  him  had  played  some  part  in  this  illness.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  had  been  told  that  he  was  phthisical,  on  account  of  a 
pulmonary  haemorrhage;  on  another  occasion  he  was  supposed 
to  be  suffering  from  general  paralysis  of  the  insane,  and  had 


PSYCHOPATHIC  EFFECT  AND  GENIUS  215 

been  treated  with  mercury,  although  syphilis  had  certainly 
never  been  present.  The  lungs  had  certainly  never  been  infil- 
trated, and  remained  quite  healthy.  I  failed  to  detect  any 
traces  of  general  paralysis  of  the  insane.  The  most  striking 
part  of  the  anamnesis  was  the  sudden  change  in  the  form  of 
illness,  in  response  to  a  different  prognosis  or  treatment,  or  in 
response  to  depressing  or  comforting  emotions.  The  man  had 
been  condemned  to  inactivity,  to  giving  up  his  career,  etc. 
When  I  told  him  definitely,  after  having  examined  him  care- 
fully, that  there  were  no  traces  of  any  organic  brain  disturb- 
ance to  be  found  in  him,  and  that  even  an  actual  psychosis 
could  not  be  detected,  and  that  he  was  merely  suffering  from 
hysterical  autosuggestion,  he  already  felt  much  better.  A 
few  hypnoses  sufficed  to  remove  all  the  disturbing  symptoms. 
But  the  prescription  to  resume  his  career,  and  also  to  become  a 
total  abstainer,  acted  best  of  all.  He  was  discharged  cured  after 
a  short  time. 

Formerly,  in  the  eighties,  I  used  to  prescribe  the  stereotype 
mental  rest,  inactivity,  bodily  exercise,  and  God  only  knows 
what  else,  in  these  cases.  I  was  still  suffering  from  "  belief  in 
the  authorities,"  and  my  patients  who  suffered  in  this  way  did 
not  get  better.  In  these  cases  the  brain  is  not  exhausted  and 
incapable  of  working,  as  one  supposes,  and  as  one  would  be 
inclined  to  believe  at  first,  but  it  is  only  misdirected,  and  works 
in  false  tracks.  Its  natural  dispositions  are  starved  and  become 
inhibited,  and  the  activity  incited  does  not  suit  it;  or  certain 
scruples  of  a  religious  or  sentimental  kind  paralyze  every 
activity,  so  that  an  open  path  is  formed  for  pathological  brain 
activities.  It  is  this  which  one  must  recognize  and  must  alter 
by  a  bold  move.  The  neurokyme  of  the  brain  must  be  brought 
again  on  to  the  right  track,  just  like  a  central  telephone  ex- 
change which  has  been  disorganized  by  a  thunderstorm.  These 
patients  need  not  even  possess  genius  or  special  talents.  They 
may  be  the  most  commonplace  individuals.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  one  must  be  careful  not  to  believe  every  psychopathic 
patient  who  considers  himself  to  be  an  unrecognized  genius, 
and  wishes  to  study  higher  philosophy.  There  are  fifty  of  this 
kind  to  one  of  the  kind  mentioned  above.  Agriculture  is  just 


216  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

as  well  adapted  for  him  as  it  is  for  the  weak-minded  or  for 
the  insane.  The  mind  which  is  merely  inhibited  is  not  inclined 
to  boast  like  a  person  with  ideas  of  exaltation,  nor  to  overesti- 
mate its  own  value.  One  has  to  worm  one's  way  into  it,  to  seek 
it,  and  to  recognize  it.  But  then  one  can  apply  the  lever  to  the 
right  spot,  and  may  no  longer  be  satisfied  with  the  everyday  sug- 
gestions, with  gardening  and  carpentering,  nor  speak  about  rest 
and  overfeeding,  baths,  electric  and  other  forms  of  treatment. 

However,  a  deeper  insight  and  psychological  judgment  is 
necessary  in  carrying  this  out.  It  is  quite  wrong  to  label  every 
mad  bragger  and  boaster  an  unappreciated  genius,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  label  every  genius  a  madman,  as  the  public  so 
glibly  do.  In  doing  this,  one  would  confuse  everything  that 
does  not  submit  to  the  dictates  of  fashion  or  prejudice,  be  it 
nonsense  or  inspiration. 

Lastly,  one  should  understand  that  there  are  large  numbers 
of  transitions  between  these  cases  and  those  ordinary  cases  in 
which  the  suggestion  treatment  is  applied.  It  is  necessary  to 
gain  the  confidence  and  appreciation  of  the  patient  in  every 
suggestive  treatment;  it  is  necessary  to  proceed  with  steadfast 
assurance  and  with  intrepid  optimism,  as  long  as  there  is  hope. 
Every  result  depends  primarily  on  the  result  of  the  first  sit- 
tings in  the  cases  mentioned  above,  as  it  does  in  ordinary 
hypnotism.  One  should  besiege  the  fortress  skillfully  from  all 
the  points  of  attack.  The  first  volley  is  decisive,  no  matter 
whether  it  is  fired  off  during  hypnosis  or  during  the  waking 
condition.  In  this  way  both  sides  gain  in  courage,  and  the 
power  of  the  suggestion  is  immediately  strengthened.  Should, 
however,  a  negative,  pessimistic  frame  of  mind  gain  the  upper 
hand  in  the  patient  in  response  to  an  initial  failure,  the  later 
results  will  become  more  and  more  problematical.  Therapeutic 
failure  may  occur  when  there  is  a  relatively  good  hypnotic 
result,  or  even  (though  this  is  rare)  when  somnambulism  has 
been  achieved,  and  may  spoil  it  all,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
an  organic  reason  for  this  does  not  exist. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

EXAMPLES    OF    CUKES    EFFECTED    BY     SUGGESTION A    CASE    OF 

SPONTANEOUS    SOMNAMBULISM THE     CUKE    OF     CONSTIPA- 
TION, AND  THE  RATIONALE  OF  IT 

I  SHOULD  be  overstepping  the  limits  and  objects  of  this  work 
were  I  to  present  the  reader  with  long  lists.  Lists  of  this  kind 
have  already  been  published  on  several  occasions,  and  I  cannot 
do  better  than  to  refer  the  reader  more  especially  to  Bernheim's 
and  Wetterstrand's  classical  works,  and  also  to  Ringier's  care- 
ful compilations,  and  to  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus,  of 
which  mention  has  already  been  made.  But  I  propose  to  touch 
upon  a  few  examples  in  this  place : 

1.  A  thoroughly  respectable  servant  girl  suffered  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1888  from  profuse  menstruation,  which  increased  in 
spite  of  medicines,  until  in  the  autumn  the  periods  set  in  every 
fortnight,  and  lasted  for  a  whole  week.  The  girl,  who  had 
always  been  pale,  became  extremely  anaemic,  and  looked  as  pale 
as  a  ghost.  She  lost  her  appetite,  and  slept  very  badly,  mostly 
only  dozing  during  the  night,  and  experiencing  bad  dreams. 
Her  master,  whom  I  knew  personally,  told  me  of  this  sad  condi- 
tion, and  himself  thought  that  she  would  have  to  return  to  her 
parents  in  the  country,  and  that  she  would  probably  not  recover. 
I  requested  him  to  bring  the  girl  to  me.  It  was  evening,  and  she 
had  been  losing  excessively,  as  usual,  for  four  days.  I  told  her 
to  sit  down  in  an  armchair  and  to  look  at  me.  She  had  scarcely 
fixed  her  eyes  on  my  finger  when  her  lids  closed.  I  then  sug- 
gested catalepsy,  anaesthesia,  etc.,  with  good  result.  This 
encouraged  me  to  suggest  an  immediate  cessation  of  menstrua- 
tion. This  suggestion  was  given  in  connection  with  touching 
of  the  abdomen,  and  declaring  that  the  blood  flowed  into  the 
arms  and  legs  from  the  pelvis,  and  it  succeeded  in  a  few 
minutes.  Finally,  I  suggested  good  sleep  and  a  good  appetite. 

217 


218  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

I  gave  orders  in  her  home  that  the  housekeeper  was  to  control 
her  menstruation.  The  loss  did  not  recur,  and  the  girl  slept 
fairly  well  during  the  following  night.  I  hypnotized  her  again 
a  few  times,  and  ordered  the  next  menstruation  to  appear  four 
weeks  later,  to  be  sparse,  and  to  last  for  two  and  a  half  days 
only.  I  obtained  a  good  deep  sleep  in  the  course  of  three  or 
four  days,  and  a  reasonable  appetite  after  a  week,  by  means  of 
suggestion.  A  regular  morning  evacuation  of  the  bowels  on 
getting  up  was  also  achieved  (the  patient  had  previously  been 
obstinately  constipated).  The  girl  improved  visibly  day  by 
day  from  this  time.  The  next  menstruation  arrived  after 
twenty-seven  days  (one  day  too  soon)  at  the  hour  suggested, 
was  sparse,  and  only  lasted  for  two  days.  Since  then  the  girl 
has  menstruated  regularly  every  four  weeks ;  the  loss  remained 
moderate  in  quantity,  and  did  not  last  for  more  than  three 
days  (in  response  to  my  suggestion).  Her  color  returned  after 
a  few  weeks,  and  since  then  she  has  been  able  to  carry  out  her 
duties  regularly  without  interruption,  although  she  is  still  some- 
what weak  and  anaemic.  She  has  not  been  hypnotized  again, 
save  once,  on  which  occasion  she  had  again  become  somewhat 
exhausted  and  had  lost  her  appetite  (April,  1889).  She  was 
still  quite  well  in  1895,  but  I  have  not  seen  her  since. 

2.  An  old  alcoholic  subject,  aged  seventy  years,  who  had  cut 
his  throat  twice  during  attacks  of  delirium  ten  years  previously, 
had  been  taken  care  of  in  the  Burghoelzli  Asylum  from  1879 
until  1887  as  a  confirmed  drunkard  and  scoundrel.  He  seized 
every  opportunity  of  getting  drunk  on  the  sly.  He  had  hallu- 
cinations when  he  was  drunk,  and  became  dangerous  to  himself 
and  others.  Apart  from  this,  he  was  the  worst  of  the  intriguers 
who  opposed  my  attempts  to  introduce  abstinence  among  the 
alcoholics  in  the  asylum ;  and,  although  he  was  otherwise  good- 
natured,  he  teased  the  others  about  the  temperance  society. 
During  the  last  few  years  he  suffered  considerably  from  lumbar 
rheumatism,  which  had  quite  crippled  him,  and  which  had  hin- 
dered him  in  his  work.  He  could  not  be  allowed  the  least  free- 
dom without  at  once  abusing  the  freedom  by  drinking. 

I  had  long  since  given  him  up  as  hopeless,  but  nevertheless 
attempted  to  hypnotize  him  in  1887.  He  proved  to  be  very 


CURE  OF  ALCOHOLISM  219 

suggestible,  and  I  succeeded  in  getting  him  to  be  remarkably 
earnest  in  a  few  sittings.  The  intrigues  left  off  as  if  by  magic, 
and  after  a  time  he  asked  of  his  own  initiative  to  have  the  wine 
which  I  had  allowed  him  in  small  quantities,  because  I  regarded 
him  as  a  hopeless  case,  struck  out  of  his  diet. 

Soon  afterwards  the  rheumatism  disappeared  entirely  in 
response  to  suggestion  (up  to  March,  1889,  it  had  not  reap- 
peared). He  continued  to  improve,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  ardent  abstainers  in  the  asylum.  I  hesitated  for  a  long 
time  before  I  allowed  him  to  go  out,  but  did  this,  after  all,  in 
the  summer  of  1888.  When  he  was  allowed  to  go  out,  he  never 
abused  the  opportunity,  although  he  always  received  some 
pocket-money  on  these  occasions.  He  kept  his  vow  of  absti- 
nence, attended  the  meetings  of  the  temperance  society  in 
response  to  suggestion,  and  when  he  went  into  the  town  he 
never  drank  anything  else  but  water  or  coffee,  or  things  of  this 
kind.  He  would  not  have  been  able  to  have  indulged  on  a 
single  occasion  without  being  found  out,  as  he  was  totally  inca- 
pable of  resisting  the  effects  of  alcohol.  Once  he  caught  a  cold, 
and  got  a  severe  recurrence  of  his  rheumatism  in  consequence. 
This  was  completely  removed  in  three  hypnotizings  (twenty- 
four  hours),  and  he  was  able  to  work  more  diligently  than 
ever,  in  spite  of  his  seventy-two  years.  Besides  he  was  hypno- 
tized only  a  few  times  for  demonstration  purposes  in  1890. 
But  he  did  not  require  any  further  anti-alcohol  suggestions. 

Report  in  January,  1891. — The  alcoholism  and  the  rheuma- 
tism have  remained  completely  cured  up  to  the  present.  How- 
ever, he  had  been  affected  some  time  past  by  senile  (gray) 
cataract  of  both  eyes,  and  as  this  was  progressing  rapidly,  an 
operation  was  considered  necessary.  This  was  undertaken  by 
my  colleague,  Professor  Haab,  in  1890.  The  operation  was 
performed  in  two  stages:  (1)  Iridectomy  and  massage  of  the 
lens,  for  the  purpose  of  hastening  the  ripening,  and  (2)  extrac- 
tion, carried  out  only  in  one  eye.  On  both  occasions  the  patient 
was  hypnotized  before  the  operation,  and  rendered  anaesthetic 
by  means  of  suggestion.  He  did  not  awaken  during  the  time, 
and  smoked  his  suggested  pipe  even  while  the  iris  was  being  cut 
into.  At  most,  he  only  screwed  up  the  corner  of  his  mouth 


220  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

while  the  iris  on  the  opposite  side  was  being  dealt  with.  He 
stated  afterwards  that  he  had  not  felt  anything  of  the  operation, 
and  that  he  had  slept  right  through  it.  During  the  after- 
treatment  in  the  hospital  in  my  absence  he  had  a  little  pain,  but 
this  was  eased  by  suggestion. 

Report  in  1895. — The  cure  has  been  maintained.  A  recur- 
rence of  the  rheumatism,  which  took  place  two  years  previously, 
had  been  cured  in  two  sittings.  The  preparations  for  a  big 
operation  (rectal  carcinoma)  in  hospital  had  upset  him  to  such 
an  extent  that  hypnosis  became  impossible.  Chloroform  had 
therefore  to  be  used.  He  recovered  from  the  operation,  but  a 
recurrence  took  place  later.  A  second  operation,  for  which  the 
preparations  were  not  perceptible,  was  successfully  performed 
under  hypnosis  without  chloroform.  He  died  after  this  opera- 
tion. 

3.  Miss  L.,  a  very  capable  workgirl,  had  suffered  for  about 
one  and  a  half  years  from  complete  sleeplessness.  All  means 
had  been  tried  unsuccessfully,  and  she  was  sensible  enough  to 
resist  the  temptation  of  accustoming  herself  to  narcotics.  She 
was  handed  over  to  me  by  one  of  my  colleagues  for  out-patient 
treatment  as  a  subject  for  demonstration  in  February,  1890. 

Several  hypnotic  sittings  were  necessary  to  obtain  a  marked 
degree  of  hypnosis  gradually,  and  to  realize  various  suggestions. 
At  first  it  was  only  in  my  presence  that  I  succeeded  in  getting 
her  to  sleep  spontaneously  on  taking  a  drink  of  water.  I  let 
her  sleep  for  a  considerable  time  (one  hour),  and  in  this  way  I 
was  able  to  restore  the  normal  night  sleep  thoroughly  after  about 
three  weeks  (from  9  P.M.  till  6  A.M.).  She  was  then  discharged 
cured. 

Early  in  January  of  1891  she  came  to  me  of  her  own  account, 
looking  exceptionally  well,  to  thank  me,  and  to  tell  me  how 
happy  she  was  to  be  completely  cured  of  her  insomnia,  and  to 
have  remained  fit  for  work.  She  had  suffered  from  a  severe 
attack  of  typhoid  fever  in  the  summer  of  1890,  which  was 
accompanied  by  high  fever,  and  in  which  she  had  several 
relapses ;  she  had  almost  been  "  given  up  "  during  this  illness. 
She  had  again  become  sleepless  during  the  fever,  it  is  true,  but 
normal  good  sleep  had  returned  spontaneously  in  her  convales- 


CURE   OF   INSOMNIA  221 

cence.  I  mention  this  case  especially  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  argue  that  one  only  drives  out  the  devil  by  Beelzebub  when 
one  substitutes  hypnotic  treatment  for  morphine  treatment. 
These  gentlemen  can  thus  be  shown  that  the  analogy  is  inap- 
plicable from  two  points  of  view,  for  neither  an  intoxication  nor 
a  habit  is  produced  by  suggestive  treatment,  and  one  simply 
restores  the  natural  healthy  sleep.  However,  "  II  n'y  a  pire 
sourde  que  celui  qui  ne  veut  pas  entendre."  And  therefore 
examples  may  be  useful.  Since  then  I  have  treated  many  simi- 
lar cases  with  equally  good  results;  three  of  these  came  under 
my  care  in  the  summer  of  1905. 

4.  Mrs.  F.,  a  spontaneous  somnambulist,  born  in  1833,  had 
followed  the  calling  of  a  fortune-teller  since  her  fifteenth  year. 
She  had  been  punished  by  law  in  Germany  for  alleged  swin- 
dling. She  was  married,  and  had  a  big  family.  One  of  her 
labors  had  taken  place  while  she  was  in  a  somnambulic  condi- 
tion, and  she  had  not  felt  anything  of  what  was  going  on.  She 
only  awoke  after  the  baby  was  born. 

She  had  consultation  hours,  and  the  patients  flocked  to  her. 
Since  her  youth  she  had  fallen  to  sleep  suddenly  and  spontane- 
ously every  day  at  nine  and  three  o'clock,  generally  with  a 
cry.  The  sleep  lasted  from  a  quarter  to  three-quarters  of  an 
hour,  according  to  the  number  of  patients  who  came  to  see  her. 
During  the  sleep  she  spoke  in  a  pathetic  tone  of  voice.  It  is 
not  she  who  speaks,  but  it  is  "  the  spirit  of  Ernest,"  which 
haunts  her,  and  who  lies  buried  in  Basle.  She  was  accused  of 
deception  on  these  grounds,  and  was  sent  to  me  in  order  that 
I  might  examine  her. 

I  succeeded  at  once  in  placing  her,  during  her  spontaneous 
somnambulic  sleep,  by  means  of  suggestion,  under  my  control 
and  under  the  influence  of  my  suggestion.  She  was  forced  to 
obey  the  suggestions  even  post-hypnotically,  in  spite  of  the  resist- 
ance of  "  the  spirit  of  Ernest."  She  became  anaesthetic.  The 
reality  of  the  somnambulism  was  undoubted ;  her  physiognomy 
was  completely  transformed,  and  she  was  totally  amnesic  after 
awakening.  I  succeeded  in  hypnotizing  her  whenever  I  wished, 
and  in  removing  the  spontaneous  attacks.  Before  this,  experi- 
ments were  carried  out  during  one  of  these  attacks.  Patients 


222  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

suffering  from  maladies  the  nature  of  which  was  well  known 
to  us  were  shown  to  her,  and  she  was  required  to  make  a 
diagnosis  and  to  determine  the  treatment.  She  spoke  pathet- 
ically to  the  patients,  calling  them  "  mj  dear,"  and  touched 
them  with  her  hand,  keeping  her  eyes  closed.  Her  diagnoses 
were  all  wrong,  for  we  avoided  any  words  or  signs  which  might 
have  put  her  on  the  right  track.  Then  Dr.  Mercier,  the  second 
assistant,  came  into  the  room  pretending  to  be  lame,  and  allowed 
her  to  examine  him.  She  diagnosed  a  "  disease  of  the  legs  " 
(which  was  not  present).  It  thus  became  clear  that  her  diag- 
noses were  based  on  the  action  of  suggestion,  produced  by  the 
phenomena  in  the  patients,  which  she  recognized  by  her  senses. 
There  was  not  a  suspicion  of  clairvoyance  to  be  detected.  She 
knew  how  to  gain  pecuniary  advantage  out  of  everything,  just 
as  the  majority  of  normal  people  do,  and  as  many  superstitious 
persons  and  even  some  insane  persons  also  do.  Still,  it  is  a 
great  mistake  which  the  simulation  theory  makes  to  deduce 
from  this  that  it  was  all  simulation.  It  is  well  known  that 
suggestions  which  are  desired  readily  gain  the  upper  hand  over 
those  which  are  not  wanted.  It  is  true  that  she  stated  that  she 
would  be  pleased  to  be  freed  from  her  sleep.  Her  husband  and 
her  children  were  dissatisfied  with  this,  and  she  herself  obvi- 
ously regretted  that  she  had  lost  her  means  of  making  money 
more  than  she  rejoiced  that  she  was  cured.  I  had,  I  must 
admit,  promised  her  to  restore  her  sleep  if  she  wished  it,  but 
it  returned  of  itself  soon  after  her  discharge,  as  was  to  be 
expected,  since  I  was  no  longer  present ;  and  those  more  power- 
ful factors,  as  well  as  the  old-standing  autosuggestion,  soon 
gained  the  upper  hand  again. 

I  stated  in  my  evidence  that  Mrs.  F.'s  somnambulic  sleep  was 
real,  and  not  simulated,  and  on  this  she  was  acquitted.  She  had 
not  been  accused  of  quackery;  she  might  have  been  punished 
for  this  offense.  This  case  has  been  dealt  with  more  minutely 
in  the  Annals  of  the  Society  of  Experimental  Psychology,  and 
my  evidence  is  added  to  the  report. 

I  must  emphasize  that  this  person  was  hysterical.  This  will 
be  found  mostly  to  be  the  case  in  well-marked  spontaneous 
somnambulists.  The  sleeping  attacks  have  something  of  the 


MENSTRUATION  223 

character  of  hysterical  attacks.  The  convulsive  phenomena,  the 
cry,  and  the  feeling  of  uneasiness,  may  be  especially  mentioned. 
The  marked  anaesthesia,  the  total  amnesia,  the  convulsive  dis- 
figurement of  the  features,  the  confused,  dazed  expression  on 
awakening,  are  all  so  very  pronounced  that  one  can  exclude  all 
possibility  of  malingering  from  these  signs  alone.  Since  spon- 
taneous somnambulism  is  not  often  observed  by  medical  men, 
and  as  it  is  of  great  interest  for  our  subject,  I  considered  that 
I  ought  to  give  the  details.  Another  thing  which  seems  to  me 
to  be  of  interest  in  this  case  is  the  second  personality  appearing 
in  the  somnambulic  sleep,  which  became  automatized,  and  one 
might  say  organized,  gradually  by  habit,  as  a  result  of  fre- 
quent repetitions  during  the  course  of  a  long  life  (a  second  ego, 
with  second  illumination  of  consciousness).  The  tone  of  voice, 
the  quality  of  the  voice,  the  physiognomy,  the  whole  naively 
pathetic,  insolent  essence  of  the  second  personality,  is  abso- 
lutely different  from  the  homely,  quiet,  collected,  good-natured, 
but  cunning  and  uneasy  normal  Mrs.  F.  In  various  attacks 
of  sleep  and  during  the  consultations  with  patients,  the  same 
phrases  and  actions,  together  with  the  same  associated  general 
condition  of  the  mind,  are  always  repeated. 

5.  One  of  the  female  attendants  of  our  asylum  suffered  for 
a  long  time  from  profuse,  frequent  menstruation,  which  set  in 
every  two  to  two  and  a  half  weeks.  In  1888  I  succeeded,  by 
means  of  a  few  hypnoses,  in  reducing  the  menstruation  to  once 
a  month,  and  to  a  duration  of  exactly  three  days.  I  suggested 
definitely  and  repeatedly  that  the  menses  would  set  in  on  the  first 
or  second  of  the  month  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  no 
matter  whether  the  month  has  thirty-one,  thirty,  or  twenty- 
eight  days,  partly  for  the  purposes  of  experiment,  and  partly 
because  I  believed  that  the  conception  of  a  definite  date  would 
be  more  easily  fixed  in  the  brain  than  that  of  a  cycle,  recurring 
every  four  weeks.  This  female  attendant  (she  was  one  of  the 
most  capable  and  trustworthy  of  all  those  employed  by  us,  and 
controlled  the  sewing  and  tailoring  work  of  the  patients)  re- 
mained in  the  asylum  up  to  1894.  Since  1888 — i.e.,  for  six 
years — this  suggestion  action  was  completely  retained  and  fixed 
without  a  repetition  of  the  suggestion.  At  times,  however,  the 


224  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

period  set  in  one  day  too  soon  (on  the  last  day  of  the  month), 
but  the  following  period  then  appeared  one  day  late,  in  com- 
pensation. The  duration  remained  exactly  three  days.  The 
matter  was  objectively  controlled  by  the  head  attendant.  The 
attendant  in  question  got  married  in  1894,  and  left  Zurich  in 
consequence.  However,  when  I  saw  her  later,  after  she  had 
become  a  mother,  her  menstruation  had  remained  unaltered. 
This  case  appears  to  me  to  be  especially  interesting  in  view 
of  the  theory  of  menstruation  and  ovulation,  because  the  result 
could  be  controlled  for  six  years,  and  because  one  can  deduce 
from  it  that  ovulation  must  either  accommodate  itself  to  the 
menstruation  and  suggestion,  or  that  it  is  absolutely  independ- 
ent of  menstruation.  It  cannot  be  seriously  argued  that  ovula- 
tion adapts  itself  accidentally  and  spontaneously  to  the  arti- 
ficial time  of  the  calendar  months,  and  even  to  leap-years. 

Since  then  I  have  regulated  the  menstruation  of  two  other 
attendants,  who  were  much  weakened  by  metrorrhagia  (one  of 
them  suffered  from  mitral  regurgitation),  in  the  same  way;  the 
period  set  in  just  as  punctually  as  in  the  first  case,  on  the  twelfth 
and  on  the  first  of  the  month  respectively,  and  lasted  for  three 
days.  The  result  was  controlled  in  both  cases  up  to  the  time 
when  the  individuals  left  the  asylum.  In  1903  I  treated  an 
educated  lady  suffering  from  profuse  menstruation,  with  equally 
good  results.  The  periods  have  remained  regular  on  a  certain 
day  of  the  month,  and  last  for  three  days,  up  to  the  present 
(two  years). 

6.  The  following  case  (among  others)  selected  from  the  mate- 
rial of  my  hypnotic  class  should  be  given  in  this  place :  Mr.  P., 
an  educated  business  man,  stated  that  he  had  formerly  suffered 
from  an  ulcer  of  the  stomach;  a  constriction  of  the  stomach 
had  resulted  from  this.  In  spite  of  a  ravenous  appetite,  he 
could  not  digest  anything.  All  his  food  remained  in  his  stom- 
ach. He  was  exceedingly  constipated,  several  days  always 
elapsing  between  the  motions.  He  could  scarcely  take  any 
food.  Every  treatment  that  had  been  tried  had  been  of  no 
avail,  and  he  felt  that  he  could  not  stand  it  any  longer.  The 
constriction  in  the  stomach  had  been  detected  by  several  doc- 
tors. Professor  R.,  of  X.,  had  told  him  that  the  only  thing 


ASTHMA  225 

left  for  him  was  an  operation  (excision  of  the  stomach),  but 
that  was  not  free  from  danger.  He  was  instructed  to  go  to 
Professor  K.  to  have  this  carried  out.  He  was  afraid  of  the 
operation,  and  therefore  begged  me  to  try  with  suggestion.  I 
would  not  promise  anything,  but  said  that  there  was  no  harm  in 
trying,  and  that  diagnoses  were  not  always  infallible.  Al- 
though only  hypotaxis  could  be  obtained,  the  action  was  very 
marked.  The  motion  was  regulated  at  once  (at  first  even  diar- 
rhoea was  produced  four  times).  All  the  gastric  complaints 
ceased,  and  all  forms  of  food  were  tolerated.  The  patient  was 
cured  after  three  or  four  sittings,  and,  as  far  as  I  am  aware, 
has  remained  so  to  this  day.  Naturally,  the  operation  was 
not  carried  out.  One  must  deduce  from  this  that  at  most  a  func- 
tional ectasia  of  the  stomach  had  been  present. 

Report  in  1902. — I  received  news  not  long  ago  from  the 
patient,  who  stated  that  he  had  remained  cured. 

7.  Patient  E.,  aged  thirty-eight  years,  suffering  from  asthma, 
complicated  by  emphysema  and  bronchitis.  He  had  been  ill 
since  1875.  He  was  admitted  into  Eichhorst's  medical  clinic 
in  1888,  with  orthopnoea,  forty-four  respirations  to  the  minute, 
etc.  The  lower  limit  of  the  lung  was  the  seventh  rib  on  the 
right  side  and  the  seventh  intercostal  space  on  the  left  side. 
The  cardiac  dullness  was  absent,  and  no  apex  beat  could  be 
felt.  He  had  been  constipated  for  five  days.  The  hospital 
treatment  consisted  in  pneumatic  applications.  The  result  was 
only  transitory.  Later  on  he  got  attacks  every  day.  In  spite 
of  all  internal  remedies  (he  was  treated  with  chloral,  iodide  of 
potassium,  etc.),  he  became  steadily  worse. 

He  came  to  me  on  December  15,  1889.  His  condition  was 
as  stated  above.  Constipation  had  lasted  from  six  to  ten  days. 
He  looked  very  ill,  wasted,  and  ashen.  He  could  not  sleep 
without  chloral. 

I  hypnotized  him  on  December  15th,  16th  and  19th,  and  at 
first  got  him  to  do  without  the  chloral,  and  obtained  normal 
sleep,  appetite,  and  a  motion  every  second  day.  After  this  he 
was  handed  over  to  one  of  the  students  for  further  hypnotizing 
in  the  out-patients'  department. 

On  February  15,  1890,  the  patient  was  completely  cured, 


226  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

and  when  seen  five  months  later  was  still  quite  well.  The  limits 
of  the  lungs  had  receded  to  the  sixth  intercostal  space.  The 
apex  beat  of  the  heart  could  be  distinctly  felt,  and  the  cardiac 
dullness  had  increased  materially.  His  bowels  were  open  daily. 
He  looked  well.  No  further  attacks  of  asthma  had  taken  place. 

Toward  the  end  of  July,  1890,  patient  E.  was  taken  with 
pleurisy  and  fever.  This,  however,  was  got  rid  of  without  any 
recurrence  of  the  asthma  occurring.  The  suggestive  treatment 
passed  successfully  through  this  stringent  test. 

8.  I  should  like  to  briefly  mention  two  other  cases  of  hallu- 
cinations, in  part  associated  with  delusions  of  persecutions, 
which  were  produced  artificially  by  spirits,  in  the  one  case  in 
a  gentleman  and  in  the  other  in  a  lady.  In  the  case  of  the 
former  more  especially,  the  illness  had  assumed  the  type  of 
paranoia.  He  believed  in  his  spirits,  as  the  Maid  of  Orleans 
believed  in  her  ghosts,  and  even  smashed  lamps  and  crockery  at 
their  command.  I  hypnotized  him  in  the  presence  of  several 
patients,  on  whom  I  had  previously  experimented  in  his  pres- 
ence. Overcome  by  the  impression  he  had  received,  he  became 
somnambulic  at  once.  In  this  way  I  conquered  the  "  spirits," 
whom  I  "  drove  out,"  together  with  the  hallucinations  and  the 
pseudo-paranoia.  The  lady  had  been  cured  in  a  similar  man- 
ner before  this.  This  sort  of  case  is  very  instructive,  showing, 
as  it  does,  that  spiritualism  can  produce  a  pseudo-paranoia  on 
a  suggestive  basis,  just  as  hysteria  can. 

CONSTIPATION  AND  THE  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  CUBE  OF  THE 
SAME  BY  MEANS  OF  SUGGESTION.1 — I  should  wish  to  place  those 
disturbances  of  the  body  which  are  usually  performed  uncon- 
sciously, the  results  of  which  alone  are  conceived  by  us,  but 
which  come  under  the  influence  of  the  central  nervous  system, 
first  among  the  therapeutic  objects  of  suggestion.  These  func- 
tional disturbances,  and  the  functions  themselves  as  well,  form, 
in  my  opinion,  the  most  thankful  field  of  suggestive  therapy, 
whether  they  be  produced  sensorily — i.e.,  psychopetally  or 
psychocentrally — or  whether  they  be  produced  as  motor,  vaso- 
motor,  or  secretory  processes — i.e.,  psychofugally.  One  can 
include  these  disturbances  among  the  neuroses;  no  real  objec- 
1  Reprinted  from  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus,  1893. 


CONSTIPATION  227 

tion  can  be  raised  to  this.  But  to  avoid  imparting  the  false 
idea  that  they  represent  diseases  of  the  peripheral  nerves,  it 
would  perhaps  be  better  to  call  them  cerebral  neuroses  or  en- 
cephaloses. 

I  have  chosen  habitual  constipation  as  my  example.  No 
doubt  certain  cases  exist  in  which  local  intestinal  affections  can 
produce  constipation.  But  these  are  really  very  rare.  Ordi- 
nary common  habitual  constipation  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  a  chronic  "  cerebral  neurosis."  Since  the  cure  of  this 
condition  by  suggestion  has  become  recognized,  this  has  been 
repeatedly  admitted.1  Let  us  first  look  at  the  facts  of  the  case. 

Apart  from  fermentative  diarrhrea,  catarrh,  stricture  of  the 
gut,  typhoid  fever,  and  the  like,  we  find  first  of  all  that  both  the 
frequency  and  the  consistency  of  the  motion  vary  enormously 
in  healthy  persons.  Sometimes  it  is  soft,  sometimes  it  is  formed 
and  "  normal,"  and  sometimes  it  is  hard.  We  may  regard  a 
daily  formed  stool  as  the  normal  condition. 

Turning  our  attention  first  to  the  case  of  a  normal,  formed 
stool,  passed  once  every  day,  we  find  that,  although  one  can 
voluntarily  hasten  or  retard  the  stool  by  means  of  abdominal 
pressing  and  of  the  action  of  the  sphincters,  this  is  only  possible 
within  certain  limits,  and  that,  as  a  rule,  it  is  apt  to  be  passed 
at  a  definite  time  of  the  day.  This  time  of  day  varies  in  differ- 
ent persons,  and  in  different  epochs  in  the  same  person.  How- 
ever, we  notice  in  general  that  when  a  person  has  accustomed 
himself  to  evacuate  his  bowels  at  a  certain  time  of  the  day,  the 
necessity  of  doing  so  is  apt  to  make  itself  felt  at  this  time. 
Perceptible  peristaltic  movements  of  the  intestines,  rumblings 
and  the  like,  often  precede  this,  and  herald  the  desire  to  go  to 
stool  at  the  given  time  punctually.  But  one  can  frequently 
make  another  observation.  If  one  voluntarily  or  compulsorily 
postpones  the  evacuation  beyond  the  usual  time,  the  desire  to 
pass  the  motion  mostly  passes  off  after  a  relatively  short  time, 
provided  that  the  faecal  accumulation  is  not  too  large.  Not 
infrequently  the  desire  is  postponed  till  the  same  time  on  the 
following  day  in  such  cases.  When  this  takes  place  the  faeces 

1  See  also  Dr.  Th.  Dunin,  "On  Habitual  Constipation."  (Berliner  Klinik, 
1891,  vol.  xxxiv.) 


228  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

will  have  become  inspissated  and  harder  in  the  meanwhile,  and 
the  motion  can  only  be  passed  by  heavy  exertion  of  the  abdom- 
inal pressure,  sometimes  accompanied  by  pain.  In  short,  con- 
stipation is  present. 

These  facts  are  more  important  than  one  would  imagine  at 
first.  They  prove  that  normal  defaecation  is  subjected  to  the 
influence  of  central  automatisms,  and  the  latter  in  their  turn 
are  dependent  on  certain  conceptions  of  time,  generally  remain- 
ing unconceived.  They  further  prove  that  the  longer  one  waits, 
the  more  difficult  will  be  the  work  for  the  bowel  and  abdominal 
muscles.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that,  apart  from 
this,  the  accumulated  faecal  masses  act  as  stimuli,  and  thus 
produce  the  desire  to  pass  a  stool  reflexly.  Still,  it  should  suf- 
fice for  the  present  to  mention  that  other  factors  take  part  in 
the  action. 

If  we  now  consider  the  conditions  other  than  those  which 
we  regard  as  strictly  normal,  we  also  find  several  important 
phenomena.  Constipation  is  a  very  common  symptom  in  cer- 
tain psychoses,  especially  in  melancholia.  The  same  applies 
to  hysteria,  hypochondriasis,  and  other  so-called  "  nervous 
diseases,"  which  one  does  not  usually  classify  among  the  psy- 
choses for  reasons  of  politeness  and  other  considerations  of  this 
kind,  but  which  are  one  and  all,  none  the  less,  functional 
encephaloses.  The  inhibitory  action  of  the  innervation  of  the 
brain  can  also  not  be  overlooked  in  these  conditions.  On  the 
other  hand,  certain  emotions,  especially  fear  and  expectation, 
notoriously  act  as  stimuli  in  such  a  way  that  this  has  become 
proverbial.  One  also  knows  that  the  desire  to  go  to  stool  does 
not  infrequently  present  itself  at  times  when  one  fears  that 
it  may  (under  certain  awkward  circumstances — e.g.,  in  former 
times,  when  there  were  no  w.c.'s  in  trains),  and  passes  off  as 
soon  as  the  "  danger  "  is  over,  and  one  could  satisfy  the  desire 
in  peace  and  comfort. 

Certain  foods  have  the  reputation  of  constipating,  and  others 
of  rendering  the  motion  easier  or  more  fluid.  I  certainly  must 
acknowledge  that  there  is  something  in  this,  and  that  fruit,  for 
example,  generally  produces  a  softer  motion.  However,  if  one 
takes  the  trouble  to  inquire  more  closely  into  the  matter,  one 


TREATMENT   OF   CONSTIPATION  229 

meets  with  inexplicable  contradictions,  as  is  well  known.  The 
food  which  constipates  one  person  purges  another.  The  same 
articles  of  diet  often  enjoy  opposite  reputations  with  different 
sets  of  people.  The  same  foodstuffs  can  produce  opposite 
actions  even  in  the  same  individual  at  different  periods  of  his 
existence — e.g.,  milk,  coffee,  etc. — and  the  person  who  is  habitu- 
ally constipated  will  not  be  helped,  as  a  rule,  by  foods. 

Practically  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  mode  of  life.  Speak- 
ing generally,  one  says  that  a  sedentary  mode  of  life  leads  to 
constipation.  But  this  is  often  produced  on  the  other  hand, 
by  exercise  and  mountain  climbing. 

One  thing  is  certain:  the  final  cause  of  constipation  is  stag- 
nation and  inspissation  of  faecal  material  in  the  large  intestine, 
no  matter  how  this  is  brought  about.  The  desire  to  go  to  stool, 
acting  as  an  antagonist  to  this  stagnation,  only  exists  as  a  sensa- 
tion and  an  impulse.  The  sensation  calls  forth  the  impulse 
and  the  action,  but  it  is  in  itself  produced  by  something.  This 
"  something  "  may  be  a  stimulus  on  the  mucosa  of  the  large 
intestine  caused  by  faecal  masses.  As  we  have  seen,  this  can 
also  be  a  conception,  an  unconceived  associated  process  in  the 
brain.  In  habitual  constipation  either  the  sensation  itself — that 
is,  the  desire — is  entirely  absent,  or  it  sets  in  too  late  or  incom- 
pletely, or  the  desire  is  present,  but  cannot  convert  itself  into 
sufficient  movement  to  evacuate  the  faecal  material.  In  this 
case  the  muscular  innervation  is  at  fault.  Both  disturbances 
are  frequently  combined.  In  treating  the  condition,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  understand  the  causal  conditions,  as  we  shall  see  pres- 
ently. But  this  is  not  so  easy.  One  knows  how  many  people 
suffer  from  constipation,  and  how  severe  and  distressing  this 
disorder  may  become;  in  many  it  makes  life  hardly  worth 
living.  Humanity  is  more  benefited  by  the  removal  of  such- 
like disturbances  than  it  is  by  the  diagnosis  and  treatment  of 
many  an  incurable  severe  disease,  such  as  apoplexy,  general 
paralysis  of  the  insane,  and  the  like,  against  which  the  whole 
of  the  weight  of  our  knowledge  notoriously  shows  itself  as 
being  despairingly  powerless. 

The  ordinary  treatment  of  constipation  consists  of: 

1.  Purgatives. — These  form  the  most  common  prescription, 


230  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

but  are  both  a  mistaken  idea  and  harmful.  One  person  accus- 
toms himself  to  rhubarb,  another  to  podophyllin,  and  a  third 
to  salines.  The  dose  has  to  be  increased,  the  digestion  becomes 
impaired,  and  the  misery  of  the  individual  grows  apace.  The 
"  intestine  " — i.e.,  the  brain — accustoms  itself  to  the  mucous 
membrane  stimulus  and  to  the  medicine,  which  irritates  the 
intestinal  secretion  and  peristalsis  artificially.  The  reaction 
becomes  more  and  more  sluggish,  and  the  bowel  becomes  more 
and  more  incapable  of  performing  its  functions  without  arti- 
ficial assistance.  One  keeps  on  strengthening  the  pathological 
inclination,  and  one  adds  to  this  a  pathological  irritation  or 
intoxication,  the  importance  of  which  is  overlooked.  One  makes 
the  disorder  worse  instead  of  curing  it. 

2.  Enemata. — These,  at  all  events,  do  not  produce  changes 
in  the  mucous  membrane,  and  do  not  possess  a  toxic  action. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  glycerine  suppositories.     But,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  accustom  the  intestine   (the  brain)   to  arti- 
ficial assistance,  just  as  purgatives  do.     The  innervation  of  the 
peristalsis  is  increasingly  diminished  by  it,  and  the  inclination 
toward  constipation  becomes  pari  passu  greater.     However,  we 
shall  never  be  able  to  do  entirely  without  these  doubtful  reme- 
dies.   Their  application  is  perfectly  justified  in  transitory  cases, 
but  they  are  always  very  pernicious  in  habitual  constipation. 

3.  There  still  remain  the  following  to  be  mentioned:  eating 
fruit,  massage,  baths,  electrotherapy,  exercise,  and — one  must 
not  forget  this — Lourdes  water,  pilgrimages,  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  in  institutes  for  the  "  treatment  by  prayer,"  Kneipp's 
treatment,  honwEopathy,  and  sun-baths. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  these  means  are  all  more  rational  and 
more  successful  than  the  first-named,  for  they  embarrass  the 
innervation  of  the  intestine  to  a  less  extent,  or  not  at  all.  How- 
ever, they  fail  frequently  enough,  and  when  they  do  succeed, 
their  action  depends  on  suggestion.  We  had  better  consider  the 
latter  in  its  purer  form. 

Suggestive  Treatment. — A  young  lady  came  to  me,  as  she 
had  heard  that  I  had  cured  cases  of  constipation.  She  had 
suffered  for  years  from  this.  For  the  last  two  years  her  suffer- 
ing had  become  intolerable.  She  took  rhubarb  regularly,  and 


SUGGESTIVE  TREATMENT  231 

also  used  enemata,  but  in  spite  of  all  remedies,  which  were 
continuously  increased,  she  only  succeeded  in  obtaining  one 
motion  a  week  with  difficulty.  She  had  tried  everything  in 
vain.  I  hypnotized  her  in  my  demonstration  course  before  the 
students.  She  went  to  sleep  at  once.  Touching  her  abdomen 
through  her  dress,  I  then  gave  her  the  suggestion  that  her  bowels 
would  henceforth  be  stimulated  by  the  action  of  the  nervous 
system.  I  told  her  that  there  had  only  been  a  sluggishness  of 
the  bowels,  and  that  this  was  now  dispelled  definitely  and  per- 
manently by  the  regulating  of  the  nervous  apparatus.  She 
would  have  a  motion  every  second  day  at  first.  This  would 
take  place  regularly  early  in  the  morning,  on  getting  up,  and 
would  be  spontaneous  and  independent  of  all  artificial  means. 
The  desire  to  go  to  stool  would  make  itself  felt  while  she 
was  dressing.  The  whole  hypnosis  did  not  last  five  minutes, 
and  I  then  awakened  her.  She  had  become  very  markedly 
suggested  already  by  seeing  the  results  in  the  other  patients. 
She  returned  to  me  after  a  week,  and  told  me  with  great  pleas- 
ure that  she  had  had  a  motion  without  any  assistance  almost 
every  day,  early  in  the  morning,  since  the  hypnosis.  She  had 
not  changed  her  mode  of  life  (she  had  previously  been  inclined 
to  ascribe  her  constipation  to  this),  which  was  that  of  a  seam- 
stress. The  suggestion  had  therefore  been  exceeded  by  the 
result.  I  hypnotized  her  once  again,  and  suggested  to  her  that 
she  would  have  a  daily  motion,  early  in  the  morning,  as  punc- 
tually as  a  clock,  and  that  the  cure  was  complete ;  and  this  was 
so — at  least,  she  has  remained  cured  up  to  the  present  (for  sev- 
eral months).  In  the  same  way  I  cured  an  educated  man  who 
consulted  me  early  in  1890.  He  had  suffered  from  severe  con- 
stipation for  eight  years.  I  was  only  able  to  produce  hypotaxis 
in  him,  but  he  has  remained  well  up  to  the  present  (this  was 
written  in  1902). 

I  have  treated  a  large  number  of  similar  cases  with  equal 
success,  and  my  colleagues  of  the  Nancy  school  have  done  the 
same.  I  do  not  intend  to  give  the  details  of  cases  in  this  place, 
and  have  only  quoted  these  simple  cases  as  examples  to  show  in 
which  way,  how  easily  and  how  rapidly,  habitual  constipation 
can  usually  be  cured  by  means  of  suggestion  in  suggestible  per- 


232  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

sons.  At  times  one  meets  with  more  difficulties,  and  some  auto- 
suggestionable  persons,  especially  hypochondriacs,  so-called 
neurasthenics  and  the  like,  defy  all  endeavors. 

What  I  am  aiming  at  is  to  inquire  more  closely  into  the 
nature  of  habitual  constipation,  with  the  help  of  the  facts 
gleaned,  and  also  into  the  real  mechanism  of  its  cure. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  constipation  is  dependent  on  various 
things.  Firstly,  there  is  the  sluggishness  of  the  motor  innerva- 
tion  of  the  rectum,  or  the  absence  of  it.  Secondly,  there  is  the 
sluggishness  of  the  peristalsis  of  the  whole  intestinal  track, 
for,  as  is  well  known,  faeces  can  stagnate  high  up  as  well. 
Thirdly,  there  is  the  faulty  secretory  activity  of  the  intestinal 
mucosa,  and,  conversely,  there  is  the  increased  absorption  of 
fluid  through  the  mucous  membrane.  Besides  these,  there  are 
certain  sensory  stimuli,  and  the  translation  of  the  same  into 
automatisms,  which  influence  the  motor  innervation  and  secre- 
tion mentioned  above.  Among  these  one  has  to  recognize  the 
direct  stimulation  of  the  accumulated  faecal  masses  on  the 
nerves  in  the  intestinal  mucosa,  and  unconceived,  temporary, 
or  other  associations  of  conception.  Lastly,  there  is  the  quality 
of  the  food  ingested. 

If  we  consider  the  facts  mentioned  without  prejudice,  the 
sluggishness  of  the  innervation  of  the  sympathetic,  or  the  ab- 
sence of  stimuli  which  excite  the  same  sufficiently  and  at  the 
proper  time,  certainly  appear  to  form  by  far  the  most  important 
factor.  We  recognize  that  this  sluggishness  has  a  great  ten- 
dency of  acting  like  a  snowball — i.e.,  once  it  is  present  the  faeces 
become  increasingly  inspissated,  and  defalcation  becomes  more 
and  more  difficult. 

The  success  of  suggestion  demonstrates  the  correctness  of  my 
assertion  very  clearly.  We  throw  a  powerful  wave  of  innerva- 
tion by  means  of  suggestion,  starting  from  the  brain  along  the 
path  accustomed  to  the  automatic  sluggishness,  and  the  result 
follows.  In  order  to  give  it  a  definite  shape,  we  tack  on  the 
suggestion  of  a  daily  regular  repetition.  In  order  that  this 
spontaneous  repetition  of  the  necessary  wave  of  innervation  may 
be  made  easier  for  the  nervous  system — i.e.,  for  the  brain — 
we  associate  this  with  a  daily  process  which  recurs  regularly 


ACTION  OF  THE   SUGGESTION  233 

at  the  same  hour ;  this  is  usually  on  getting  up  in  the  morning, 
immediately  after  awakening,  which  is  admittedly  the  best 
time  for  defaecation.  This  association  of  conception  serves  as 
a  temporal  landmark,  and  plays  an  important  part,  as  such  land- 
marks, generally  speaking,  do,  in  the  whole  mechanism  of  our 
memory.  But  we  are  not  dealing  with  a  conceived  remem- 
brance in  this  case.  The  suggestion  acts  on  the  automatisms  of 
the  organic  memory.  If  one  is  successful  in  tacking  on  the 
automatic  association  sufficiently,  and  in  fixing  it,  the  wave  of 
innervation  follows  each  day  at  the  suggested  time  in  sufficient 
force  to  overcome  all  obstacles.  The  "  disease  "  is  then  cured — 
and  really  cured.  For  what  has  been  reinstated  is  the  normal 
condition,  through  the  normal  living  mechanism  of  the  brain 
itself.  This  of  itself  has  a  natural  tendency  to  be  retained. 
How  absolutely  different  this  result  is  from  a  motion  produced 
by  an  enema  or  by  rhubarb!  The  latter  strengthens  the  fatal 
suggestion  of  an  illness  in  the  brain  by  increasing  the  concep- 
tion of  the  impossibility  of  a  motion  being  able  to  take  place 
without  artificial  means,  and  associates  and  fixes  this  conception 
more  and  more.  The  two  are  actually  opposites. 

How  can  we  interpret  the  action  of  suggestion  in  this  con- 
crete case  ?  How  can  we  analyze  it  ? 

First,  the  patient  is  prepared.  One  gives  him  sanguine  hope 
that  he  will  be  cured.  Then  one  brings  him  into  an  atmosphere 
of  cures  resulting  from  suggestion,  and  his  brain  then  becomes 
prepared,  surrenders,  and  is  persuaded — i.e.,  consents  from  the 
first  to  allow  itself  to  be  dissociated,  and  not  to  offer  any  resist- 
ance. He  feels  himself  prospectively  influenced,  and,  in  fact, 
beneficially  influenced,  and  in  this  way  all  the  forces  working 
in  opposition  to  the  influence  of  the  hypnotist  become  inhibited, 
and  all  those  which  act  with  it  become  strengthened.  It  is  a 
very  extraordinary  condition,  this  condition  of  suggestibility,  of 
belief,  of  enthusiasm,  of  subjection  to  a  psychical  influence. 
One  can  theorize  as  one  likes  about  it,  but  one  thing  is  certain, 
that  all  opposing  psychical  aggregate  conditions,  associations, 
conceptions,  emotions  of  the  will,  or  whatever  one  chooses  to 
call  the  whole  psychical  dynamics  in  question,  suddenly  yield, 
becoming  plastic  and  weak,  and  are  pierced  like  butter.  It  is 


234  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

the  piercing  of  the  resistances  of  unconeeived  automatisms, 
however,  which  appears  to  be  particularly  important.  It  does 
not  matter  whether  this  has  its  seat  unrecognized  in  the  cere- 
brum, or  in  the  medulla,  or  in  the  spinal  cord,  or  even  in  the 
sympathetic.  There  is  no  doubt  about  this,  for  it  always  yields 
the  safest  and  most  permanent  results.  If  we  modify  or  inhibit 
only  a  conceived  associated  process  for  the  moment,  the  psychi- 
cal (brain)  activity  of  the  patient  can  always  find  a  thousand 
ways  later  on  of  reinstating  it,  of  tacking  it  on  again,  of  think- 
ing about  it,  and  thus  of  interfering  with  the  result  of  the  sug- 
gestion. In  the  case  of  unconeeived  automatisms,  like  defseca- 
tion  and  the  innervation  of  the  intestinal  peristalsis,  the  brain 
activity  cannot  discover  the  path  of  association  of  the  conception 
in  its  whole  extent  right  up  to  the  achieved  result,  in  spite  of 
any  amount  of  ruminating  after  this.  It  is  and  remains  uncon- 
eeived in  every  one.  One  sees  the  result,  which  is  inexplicable, 
and  one  is  able  to  rejoice  over  it,  and  the  action  of  suggestion 
holds  the  field  more  easily  on  this  account. 

I  would  explain  the  action  of  suggestion  in  the  following 
manner:  After  having  prepared  the  patient  in  the  manner 
detailed  above,  I  suggest  sleep  to  him  in  order  to  dissociate  him 
more  completely.  I  then  call  forth  the  conception  that  I  am 
doing  something  with  the  abdomen,  by  touching  the  abdomen 
with  my  open  hand  (if  the  suggestion  does  not  succeed  through 
the  clothes,  or  if  it  does  not  succeed  sufficiently,  it  can  be 
strengthened  by  touching  the  naked  abdominal  walls).  The 
reflex  paths  between  the  abdominal  region  and  the  brain  are 
stimulated  centripetally  in  this  way.  I  then  give  the  suggestion 
of  the  desire  and  of  peristaltic  movements.  I  can  cause  the 
result  to  take  place  at  once  (suggestion  of  a  motion  immedi- 
ately after  awakening,  which  answers  very  well)  or  can  order 
it  for  some  future  time  association.  The  mechanism  is  the  same 
in  both  cases.  I  have  concentrated  the  dissociated  brain  activity 
on  an  automatic  functionating  nervous  apparatus.  The  mo- 
ment is  most  important  for  the  result.  Next  I  call  into  exist- 
ence the  conception  of  the  psychofugally  carrying  out  of  the  act, 
of  the  desire,  of  the  peristalsis,  and  of  the  deflation.  All 


ACTION  OF  THE   SUGGESTION  235 

resistances  are  overcome ;  the  activity  in  the  one  case  is  actually 
taking  place,  or,  in  the  other  case,  is  only  being  prepared,  and 
the  result  is  postponed  till  a  later  fixed  time.  I  believe  that 
the  following  are  active  in  this  process :  The  conception  of  def  a> 
cation  and  desire  to  go  to  stool,  psychopetal  (sensory)  excita- 
tions issuing  from  the  abdominal  walls,  psychofugal  messages 
from  the  brain  to  the  spinal  cord,  messages  from  the  spinal 
cord  to  the  intestinal  sympathetic,  and,  lastly,  messages  pro- 
duced by  the  direct  innervation  of  the  intestinal  muscle,  and 
possibly  of  the  blood  vessels  and  glands  (the  furtherance  of  the 
intestinal  secretion).  One  frequently  only  obtains  the  desire 
at  first.  Then  one  has  to  repeat  and  vary  the  suggestions  until 
the  psychofugal  activity  has  overcome  all  resistances  right  up 
to  the  intestinal  muscle.  It  is  advisable,  in  order  to  insure 
success,  to  state  from  the  beginning  that  the  first  motion,  which 
will  have  to  remove  the  faecal  accumulation  which  has  already 
become  inspissated,  will  be  a  little  difficult,  but  that  from  this 
time  onward  the  accelerated  peristalsis  will  prevent  the  stool 
from  again  becoming  hardened  in  this  way.  A  definite  normal 
daily  process  of  defsecation  is  achieved  by  means  of  this  concep- 
tion, which  finds  its  way  in  the  plastically  dissociated  brain 
required  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  act,  by  way  of  hypocon- 
ceived  and  hitherto  absolutely  unrecognized  automatic  central 
apparatus. 

One  can  gather  from  these  facts  that  habitual  constipation 
must  be  regarded  as  a  pathological  habit  of  the  central  nervous 
system.  This  habit  can  be  favored  or  produced  by  all  sorts  of 
chance  occurrences,  inclinations,  inherited  dispositions,  condi- 
tions of  exhaustion,  neuroses,  psychoses,  etc.,  and  it  harbors 
the  nucleus  for  further  growth  in  that  the  inspissation  of  the 
fa3cal  material  which  it  produces  reacts  in  its  turn  markedly 
on  itself.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  just  as  obvious  that  the  usual 
treatment  with  enemata  and  purgatives  is  not  only  no  good,  but 
directly  renders  the  condition  worse. 

Delius1  reported  on  eighty-four  cases  of  this  kind  of  dis- 
turbance (chiefly  constipation)  which  he  had  treated  by  sugges- 

1  Delius,  "The  Treatment  of  the  Functional  Disturbances  of  the  Stool," 
etc.     (Die  Heilkunde,  November,  1903.) 


236  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

tion.  Sixty-seven  of  them  were  cured,  thirteen  were  improved, 
and  four  were  unimproved.  In  thirty-two  of  the  sixty-seven 
cured  cases  he  was  able  to  show  that  the  cure  had  persisted  for 
years.  It  is  important  to  keep  on  emphasizing  these  facts,  for 
one  cannot  make  a  greater  mistake  than  to  presume  that  the 
cure  by  means  of  suggestion  is  not  of  a  lasting  kind. 

Our  nervous  system  possesses  the  tendency  of  espousing  many 
other  similar  pathological  habits.  Some  of  these  are  carried  out 
entirely  in  the  spheres  of  its  activities  which  are  unrecognized 
by  our  superconsciousness,  and  some  are  carried  out  in  proc- 
esses which  are  partly  or  wholly  conceived  by  us.  Enuresis 
nocturna  and  diurna,  many  of  the  so-called  gastric  catarrhs 
(nervous  dyspepsia),  many  neuroses  of  various  kinds,  hysterical 
attacks,  paralyses,  pains,  and  anaesthesias,  disturbances  of  men- 
struation, vaso-motor  neuroses,  inter  alia,  are  undoubtedly 
examples  of  this.  A  number  of  cases  of  loss  of  appetite  and  of 
chlorosis,  in  which  one  ascribes  a  primary  role  to  the  "  anaemia," 
are  nothing  more  or  less  than  this  form  of  pathological  auto- 
suggestions or  morbid  habits  of  the  brain.  One  must,  however, 
never  forget  that  the  pathological  process,  the  nature  of  which 
one  has  recognized  and  explained  in  this  way,  is  apt  to  have  all 
sorts  of  other  causes  acting  with  or  even  producing  the  habit, 
which  a  skilled  and  prudent  suggestive  treatment  will  have  to 
take  into  account.  I  repeat  that  among  these  there  are  chiefly 
the  inherited  disposition,  ennervating  conditions,  psychical  dis- 
turbances, violent  emotions,  injudicious  mode  of  life,  bad  nutri- 
tion, etc.  The  hypnotist  must  seek  for  such  cases  in  every 
individual  case,  and  attempt  to  remove  them  as  well  by  means 
of  skillfully  interposed  suggestion  and  other  means,  if  there 
are  any  indications  for  the  latter. 


CHAPTER    IX 

A  CASE  OF  HYSTERICAL,  PARTLY  RETROGRESSIVE  AMNESIA,  WITH 
PROTRACTED  SOMNAMBULISM,  ANALYZED  AND  CURED  BY 
SUGGESTION.1 

MR.  ~N.,  aged  thirty-two  years,  sought  admission  into  my  clinic 
of  his  own  accord.  He  came  of  a  good  family,  but  inherited 
a  marked  taint  of  psychical  abnormalities  from  his  father. 
One  of  his  brothers  had  a  very  bad  memory. 

Mr.  ~N.  himself  had  always  been  weakly,  anaemic,  and  nerv- 
ous, and  suffered  from  headache  and  hypersemic  conditions  of 
the  head,  which  increased  according  to  the  nature  of  his  supper, 
and  which  even  led  to  bleeding  from  the  ears  (the  ears  were 
still  red,  and  showed  many  degenerate  capillaries). 

Dr.  Naef  describes  the  case  as  follows: 

"  Mr.  ~N.  used  to  remain  awake  until  late  in  the  night  when 
a  boy  of  seven,  as  a  result  of  changing  his  school.  During  the 
morning  following  a  night  when  he  had  lain  awake  until  two 
o'clock  he  came  home,  contrary  to  his  custom,  without  any 
books,  commenced  to  cry,  and  stated  that  the  police  wanted  to 
arrest  him.  He  said  that  he  had  stolen  a  large  sum  of  money, 
and  that  he  would  only  bring  disgrace  to  his  family.  In  con- 
nection with  this  he  refused  to  take  any  food  for  two  days,  and 
avoided  seeing  every  one.  After  a  few  days  the  storm  passed 
off,  his  condition  improved  rapidly,  and  rest  and  change  of 
air  completely  restored  the  patient  to  health.  The  patient  can 
remember  this  episode  fairly  well,  but  he  denies  all  knowledge 
of  the  self-accusation. 

"  Later  on  the  patient  served  in  the  army,  and  felt  well 
during  this  time,  apart  from  a  moody  depression  which  made 
itself  felt  occasionally.  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  he  wounded 

1  Reproduced  from  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Hypnotismus;  communicated  by  my 
former  assistant,  Dr.  Max  Naef,  and  reprinted  here  with  his  permission. 

237 


238  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

himself  severely  with  a  gun-shot,  through  carelessness,  in 
America.  The  wound,  a  penetrating  thorax  wound,  and  its 
complications  caused  him  to  lie  up  for  months.  Since  this 
occurrence  our  patient  acquired  a  great  horror  of  firearms. 
After  his  return  to  Europe  he  was  much  affected  when,  on  visit- 
ing a  medical  friend,  the  latter  was  summoned  to  some  one  who 
had  shot  himself  in  the  neighborhood.  During  the  same  evening 
the  patient  was  seized  with  an  attack  of  giddiness  while  he  was 
sitting  in  a  cafe,  although  he  had  not  partaken  of  any  alcohol. 
He  was  so  unsteady  that  he  had  to  be  assisted  home.  When  in 
bed  at  home  he  got  a  second  severer  attack  of  giddiness ;  in  this 
he  had  the  feeling  that  something  was  giving  way,  and  com- 
plained of  palpitation  and  difficult  breathing.  The  attack 
ended  with  vomiting,  consciousness  never  having  been  lost.  The 
giddiness  lasted  for  the  whole  of  the  next  day,  and  then  he  got 
better. 

"  The  patient  was  then  admitted  into  a  home  for  nervous 
patients,  and  was  discharged  from  this  place  as  considerably 
improved. 

"  However,  all  sorts  of  complaints  soon  reappeared,  and  our 
patient  frequently  suffered  during  the  period  which  followed 
from  headache,  marked  photophobia,  from  a  feeling  of  general 
languor  after  meals,  and  from  hypersemia  of  the  head,  with 
simultaneously  associated  cold  extremities. 

"  All  this  did  not  prevent  Mr.  N.  during  the  following  few 
years  from  fulfilling  the  duties  which  were  imposed  on  him  in 
the  various  positions  which  he  held.  Neither  he  nor  those  with 
whom  he  came  into  contact  noticed  any  abnormality  of  his 
mental  capabilities  during  this  time.  In  his  own  account,  which 
he  wrote  in  response  to  our  wish,  he  gave  a  detailed  description 
of  this  portion  of  his  life;  he  was  able  to  name  all  the  places 
which  he  had  visited  correctly,  and  to  state  what  he  had  to  do 
in  each.  The  patient  still  remembered  clearly  that  he  stayed 
in  A.  in  the  autumn  of  189 — ,  in  order  to  complete  some  studies 
which  he  had  prematurely  interrupted.  The  defect  of  memory 
commenced  to  appear  about  this  time.  He  could  still  remem- 
ber the  beginning  of  the  winter  about  as  late  as  the  month  of 
November.  But  even  this  period  seemed  to  him  to  be  much 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  239 

less  distinct  and  more  mixed  than  other  periods  of  longer  ago. 
The  time  which  followed  was  completely  dark  for  the  patient, 
although  he  was  not  able  to  state  a  definite  day  from  which  this 
dated.  His  memory  for  the  period  was  a  perfect  blank.  He 
had  not  the  slightest  idea  where  he  spent  the  winter  or  what 
he  had  been  doing,  and  yet,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  his  expe- 
riences during  this  time  were  of  such  an  order  that  under  nor- 
mal circumstances  they  would  be  calculated  to  have  remained 
firmly  impressed  on  his  memory  for  the  whole  of  his  life. 

"  The  first  reappearance  of  his  memory  took  place  about 
the  beginning  of  June  of  the  following  year,  according  to 
the  patient's  own  account  and  statements,  and  the  reestablishing 
of  the  memory  was  effected  at  all  events  just  as  gradually  and 
confusedly  as  the  suspension.  At  the  time  which  he  was  able 
again  to  recall  he  was  aboard  an  English  steamer  toward  the  end 
of  a  long  sea- journey,  the  destination  of  which  was  Europe. 
It  will  be  more  instructive  if  I  append  his  own  very  interesting 
account  of  this  period.  He  writes :  '  The  reappearance  of  a 
very  hazy  memory,  at  all  events  to  my  mind,  of  where  I  was 
and  what  I  was  doing  leads  me  on  board  an  English  steamer, 
the  name  of  which  I  am  unable  to  give.  I  have  a  vague  recol- 
lection of  having  been  on  board  ship  for  a  long  time,  which 
corresponds  with  the  distance  which  separates  the  Australian 
town  Z.,  from  Naples.  I  am  definitely  able  to  state  that  I 
left  the  ship  at  the  last-named  port.  I  do  not  think  that  I 
associated  intimately  with  any  one  on  board.  The  feeding  and 
the  class  of  persons  who  formed  my  fellow-passengers  were 
obviously  not  brilliant,  and  therefore  I  think  that  I  must  have 
been  traveling  second  class  that  time.  I  seem  to  remember 
distinctly  that  I  was  never  spoken  to  in  German  during  this 
time.  I  have  only  a  very  superficial  knowledge  of  the  English 
language.  I  was  certainly  far  from  well  at  the  time  of  my 
journey  back  to  Europe,  for  I  remember  having  been  repeatedly 
attacked  by  muscular  convulsions  affecting  the  back  of  the  head 
and  the  neck,  associated  with  simultaneous  involuntary  twitch- 
ings  of  the  face,  and  especially  of  the  lower  jaw.  When  these 
occurred,  irresistibly  severely,  I  buried  myself  in  my  cabin, 
undoubtedly  with  the  object  of  concealing  this  morbid  condition. 


240  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

I  shared  a  cabin  with  an  old  Irishman,  whom  I  scarcely  ever 
understood  when  he  spoke  to  me.  As  far  as  I  can  remember, 
it  was  very  hot  while  I  was  on  board.  I  read  a  great  deal 
about  this  time,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe,  but  only  cheap 
editions  of  English  works.  I  am  able  to  mention  the  names  of 
some  of  them.  Among  them  were  books  like  "  John  Halifax, 
Gentleman,"  also  some  of  Dickens'  works — "  Pickwick  Papers," 
"  Hard  Times,"  etc.  Whether  I  brought  these  books  on  board 
myself,  or  got  them  there,  I  am  unable  to  say.  I  am  also  not 
able  to  remember  with  absolute  certainty  any  port  besides 
Naples  at  which  we  called,  but  now  think  that  I  have  a  faint 
recollection  of  Port  Said.  Still,  this  has  only  occurred  to  me 
since  I  looked  up  the  route  from  Z.  to  Naples  on  the  map.  I 
fancy  that  I  was  only  in  Naples  for  a  very  short  time,  perhaps 
only  for  one  day ;  at  all  events,  I  do  not  remember  having  spent 
the  night  at  a  hotel,  but  I  do  remember  having  obtained  a  boat- 
ticket  for  Genoa  from  a  mercantile  agent  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  harbor,  with  the  assistance  of  a  guide,  who  certainly  did 
not  speak  German.  I  have  no  recollection  of  the  date  of  my 
stay  in  Naples.  .  .  .' 

"  From  this  time  onward  his  memory  became  progressively 
clearer  and  more  coherent.  Mr.  N.  went  on  to  describe  his 
journey  from  Naples  to  Genoa,  and  mentioned  a  circumstance 
which  struck  him  as  being  especially  peculiar.  He  had  a  lot 
of  trouble  with  his  baggage,  as  he  never  knew  how  many  boxes 
he  actually  had  with  him,  and  as  he  had  packed  so  untidily, 
which  was  contrary  to  his  usual  habit,  so  that  he  often  had 
to  look  for  a  long  time  before  he  could  find  a  certain  thing. 
Then  he  stayed  for  a  time  in  Milan,  and  he  continued  his 
journey  through  the  St.  Gothard  tunnel,  and  arrived  in  Zurich. 

"  Mr.  N.  then  passed  a  few  weeks  in  this  place  free  from  care, 
and  in  a  happy  frame  of  mind.  He  indulged  in  small,  inno- 
cent amusements,  but  without  entering  into  any  social  commu- 
nication with  acquaintances  either  personally  or  by  letter,  with- 
out giving  a  thought  to  the  reason  and  object  of  his  stay,  and 
without  realizing  where  he  had  come  from.  He  led  a  very 
steady,  regular  life,  did  not  associate  with  any  one,  and  took 
his  exercise  when  he  went  out  for  walks  every  day  along  the 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL   AMNESIA  241 

same  streets.  His  landlady  described  him  as  a  quiet,  respecta- 
ble person,  about  whom  she  did  not  notice  anything  striking, 
apart  from  his  very  retiring  disposition.  It  never  occurred 
to  him  to  communicate  with  his  near  relatives,  with  whom  he 
had  always  been  on  affectionate  terms. 

"  He  continued  to  pass  his  time  without  a  thought  or  care, 
separated  from  all  the  ties  of  his  earlier  life,  obviously  more 
or  less  under  the  dreamlike  impression  that  he  was  enjoying 
a  change  of  air,  until  he  was  recalled  to  himself  by  a  strange 
coincidence.  One  day,  while  in  a  restaurant,  his  attention  was 
accidentally  attracted  to  a  notice  in  a  newspaper  which  awak- 
ened his  interest  very  greatly.  This  note  stated  that  a  certain 
Mr.  N.  (the  name  was  given  in  full),  who  had  traveled  to 
Australia  some  months  before  on  official  business,  and  who  had 
arrived  at  his  destination,  had  recently  disappeared  without 
leaving  any  traces  of  his  movements  behind.  The  notice  went 
on  to  hazard  the  conjecture  that  Mr.  N".  had  either  become  the 
victim  of  a  crime,  or  that  he  had  been  suddenly  seized  by  an 
illness,  the  most  probable  one  being  given  as  dengue  fever, 
which  was  prevalent  at  that  time  in  the  neighborhood  from 
which  Mr.  N".  had  disappeared. 

"  Shortly  after  a  further  reference  to  this  episode  appeared 
in  the  same  paper,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  Mr.  N.  had  been 
seen  at  a  certain  port  after  his  disappearance  from  the  interior 
of  Australia.  In  all  probability,  he  had  embarked  in  a  steamer 
for  Europe  without  having  told  a  soul  of  his  sudden  proj- 
ect. The  writer  of  the  article  suggested  that  the  cause  of  this 
behavior  would  be  that  Mr.  !N".  had  obviously  regretted  having 
accepted  his  post,  and  that,  having  possibly  been  weakened 
and  depressed  by  an  illness,  he  had  thought  it  best  to  break  off 
all  connection  by  going  away  secretly. 

"  The  first  of  these  newspaper  articles  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  on  our  patient  as  soon  as  he  had  read  it,  for  he 
suddenly  became  aware  that  the  subject  of  the  notice  was  no 
other  than  himself.  Although  the  connection  seemed  to  him 
to  be  incredible  and  incomprehensible,  he  was  compelled  to 
realize  that  the  whole  story  dealt  with  him.  His  conviction 
about  this  was  turned  into  absolute  certainty  by  a  passport 


242  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

bearing  his  name  which  he  discovered  by  chance  in  his  pocket. 
It  may  be  as  well  to  quote  Mr.  N.'s  own  words  about  this  highly 
important  occurrence  which  broke  into  his  life  so  suddenly. 
He  writes  as  follows :  '  In  trying  to  remember  the  impression 
which  the  mention  of  my  name  in  this  connection  made  on  me, 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  I  regarded  the  whole  matter  as 
impossible  at  that  time.  I  bought  the  newspaper  at  once,  and 
kept  on  reading  the  unpleasant  notice  again  and  again.  On 
awakening  next  day,  I  had  completely  forgotten  all  about  the 
whole  business,  but  as  the  newspaper  lay  on  the  table  in  full 
view,  the  occurrence  rapidly  came  back  to  me.  I  had  endeav- 
ored to  get  hold  of  all  the  German  newspapers  since  the  dis- 
covery of  the  first  article,  so  that  I  might  read  of  a  contradic- 
tion or  confirmation  of  the  correctness  of  the  matter.  I  did 
not  believe  that  the  first  note  was  true  until  I  read  the  second 
one  on  the  following  Tuesday.  But  on  Sunday  I  began  to  enter- 
tain doubts  about  myself  and  my  normal  condition,  and  I 
endeavored  seriously  to  consider  my  position.  I  further  began 
to  wonder  why  I  was  staying  in  Zurich  without  doing  anything, 
and  how  I  had  got  there.' 

"  The  result  of  the  confusion  of  suppositions  and  plans  which 
took  possession  of  our  patient's  brain  in  connection  with  this 
occurrence  was  the  gradual  conclusion  that  he  would  trust 
his  peculiar  fate  and  abnormal  condition  to  a  medical  practi- 
tioner. This  was  undoubtedly  the  best  course  he  could  have 
followed.  He  therefore  applied  to  my  respected  chief,  Profes- 
sor Forel,  who  advised  him  to  consent  to  stay  for  a  time  in  our 
asylum,  so  that  his  mental  condition  migbt  be  carefully  ob- 
served and  judged.  He  had  applied  to  Professor  Forel  because 
he  had  once  heard  him  deliver  a  lecture,  and  the  remembrance 
of  this  gave  him  the  idea  of  seeking  help  at  his  hands.  The 
impression  which  Mr.  ~N.  made  on  Professor  Forel  on  admission 
was  that  of  a  psychopathic  patient  whose  nervous  system  wa& 
much  affected.  He  had  an  absent-minded  look,  and  his  eyelids 
twitched  frequently  in  a  peculiar  way.  Mr.  X.  requested  a 
private  interview,  and  on  being  granted  this,  handed  over  the 
newspapers  and  also  the  passport,  saying :  l  That  must  be  meant 
for  me — there  is  no  other  possibility — but  I  do  not  know  any- 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  243 

thing  about  it/  and  so  on.  He  then  added :  '  No  one  will  or 
can  believe  me.  I  am  in  a  most  desperate  position ;  people  will 
believe  that  I  am  a  swindler.' 

"  Professor  Forel  determined  the  diagnosis  already  on  the 
first  day  of  his  stay.  This  was  total  temporary  amnesia,  with 
confusion  of  thoughts,  probably  resulting  from  the  attack  of 
dengue  fever  mentioned  in  the  paper,  and  complicated  by  a 
retrograde  period  of  amnesia,  without  confusion.  He  was  certi- 
fied as  suffering  from  this  condition  to  the  proper  authorities. 
However,  it  was  necessary  to  confirm  or  correct  the  diagnosis 
by  further  observation. 

"  The  first  task  consisted  in  testing  the  patient's  account  as 
to  its  reliability,  for  this  account  at  first  appeared  extraordinary 
even  to  an  experienced  psychiatrist.  Further,  it  was  necessary 
to  attempt  to  fill  in  the  gap  in  his  memory  for  the  eight  months 
by  the  objective  statements  of  third  persons.  On  inquiry  from 
all  sorts  of  people  and  offices,  one  was  able  gradually  to  glean 
the  following: 

"  Mr.  N.  had  really  applied  himself  to  his  studies,  which  he 
had  interrupted  for  divers  reasons  for  a  long  time  in  the  autumn 
of  189 — ,  in  A.  He  had  then  applied  for  an  appointment  to 
a  responsible  official  position  in  Australia,  and  had  actually 
obtained  the  post.  After  all  the  necessary  preparations  had 
been  made,  he  sailed  for  Australia  in  the  beginning  of  the 
following  year,  and  entered  into  his  new  position,  and  remained 
for  several  weeks  in  the  port  of  Z.  JSTot  a  single  incident  from 
this  time  could  be  elicited  which  would  justify  any  doubt  but 
that  our  patient's  mental  condition  at  that  time  was  a  per- 
fectly normal  one.  Even  those  persons  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  almost  daily  were  not  aware  of  any  circumstance 
which  would  lend  credence  to  the  supposition  that  the  reverse 
was  the  case.  In  his  correspondence  with  his  relatives  not  a 
single  peculiar  point  could  be  discovered.  He  wrote  a  letter 
home  fairly  regularly  once  a  week  during  his  journey  out  and 
during  the  first  period  of  his  stay  in  Australia,  but  these  letters 
did  not  contain,  either  in  form  or  context,  anything  suspicious. 
(We  have  read  through  this  correspondence  ourselves,  and 
found  that  it  was  sincere,  affectionate,  and  particularly  nice 


244  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

in  all  respects.)  This  correspondence  suddenly  ended  on  May 
6th,  and  from  that  time  his  relatives  did  not  receive  any  news 
as  to  his  movements.  In  his  last  letter  from  Z.  he  stated  that 
he  would  undertake  an  official  journey  inland  within  a  few  days, 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact  Mr.  N.,  according  to  the  official  report, 
set  out  on  his  journey  in  good  health  on  the  evening  of  May  6th, 
having  carried  out  his  obligations  in  a  perfectly  correct  manner, 
leaving  his  accounts,  etc.,  in  strict  order. 

"  We  have  it  on  excellent  authority  that  shortly  after  his 
arrival  in  the  town  O.,  in  the  interior  of  Australia,  he  com- 
plained of  being  unwell,  consulted  two  doctors,  and  on  their 
advice  kept  to  his  room  for  a  few  days.  The  doctors  stated 
that  he  was  suffering  from  a  mild  attack  of  fever,  sleeplessness, 
and  marked  depression,  in  consequence  of  overexertion  of  the 
brain.  Mr.  N.  made  up  his  mind,  consequently,  to  return  to 
the  coast  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  of  the  month,  and  in  con- 
nection with  this  he  stated  that  he  intended  to  stop  them  from 
sending  on  his  letters  from  Z.  by  telegram.  This  telegram, 
however,  was  never  sent,  neither  did  Mr.  ~N.  communicate 
with  O.  on  his  arrival  at  the  coast,  as  he  had  promised  before 
he  started  off.  From  the  moment  when  he  left  the  railway 
station  in  O.  on  his  way  to  the  coast,  nearly  all  traces  of  Mr.  K". 
were  lost  until  he  turned  up  in  Zurich.  We  have  only  been  able 
to  pick  up  a  very  few  facts  of  the  time  which  elapsed.  Among 
these  there  is  the  fact  that  the  patient  was  seen  and  recognized 
at  the  station  of  the  Australian  port  L.  by  a  lady  with  whom 
he  had  often  spoken  during  his  passage  out,  and  also  during 
the  time  in  which  the  steamer  lay  in  the  harbor  of  the  same 
port,  two  months  before.  The  lady  was  going  to  bow  to  him, 
but  he  turned  away  from  her,  and  went  off  as  if  he  did  not 
recognize  her.  Lastly,  it  was  discovered  that  a  passenger 
answering  to  the  description  of  Mr.  N".  embarked  on  May  22d 
on  the  steamer  Oroya  on  the  return  journey  from  L.  to  Xaples, 
and  that  the  name  entered  on  the  ship's  list  was  Corona. 

"  That  is  all  that  we  could  learn  of  the  doings  of  Mr.  ]ST. 
during  the  time  in  question.  We  now  come  to  the  observations 
which  were  made  on  the  patient  in  the  Burghoelzli  Asylum. 

"  At  first  the  patient,  who  was  bodily  healthy,  in  spite  of 


A  CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  245 

being  of  a  somewhat  weakly  build,  was  in  a  distinctly  depressed 
mood.  He  was  unhappy,  puzzled  about  his  position,  which  he 
did  not  yet  fully  appreciate.  The  look  of  his  deep-set  eyes  was 
rather  piercing,  and  this  lent  a  gloomy  expression  to  his  whole 
physiognomy.  Apart  from  this,  one  noticed  extremely  rapid 
twitchings  of  the  eyelids,  followed  by  a  partial  closure  of  the 
same.  This  occurred  especially  when  he  was  talking.  He  slept 
badly;  as  a  rule,  he  lay  awake  for  a  long  time,  and  in  spite  of 
this,  awoke  early  in  the  morning.  He  suffered  frequently  from 
nightmare.  After  passing  such  a  night  he  felt  as  if  he  had  been 
beaten  all  over.  He  occupied  himself  diligently  and  ardently 
with  his  person  and  his  bodily  condition,  often  spoke  of  all 
sorts  of  mild  pains  and  abnormal  sensations — e.g.,  pains  in  the 
neck,  which  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  wear  a  high  collar, 
and  also  prevented  him  from  letting  his  hair  grow  at  all  long. 
Mental  work  caused  the  patient  a  great  effort — e.g.,  he  had  to 
interrupt  the  writing  of  his  personal  history  several  times,  and 
when  it  was  finished  he  was  much  exhausted.  In  the  same  way, 
letter-writing  was  only  carried  out  with  great  difficulty.  When, 
doing  this  he  sweated  freely,  even  in  cool  weather,  although  he 
did  not  sweat  easily  as  a  rule.  He  frequently  made  mistakes, 
and  often  corrected  what  he  had  written  wrongly  again.  He 
complained  that  when  reading  he  had  frequently  to  read  the 
same  words  over  and  over  again  before  he  understood  what  he 
was  reading  about,  and  also  that  reading  tired  him,  as  he  con- 
stantly found  himself  missing  a  line. 

"  At  first  a  suggestive  treatment  was  undertaken,  in  order 
to  improve  Mr.  N.'s  general  psychical  condition.  The  first 
hypnosis  was  carried  out  in  the  presence  of  several  other  patients 
who  had  been  hypnotized  first.  As  our  patient's  turn  was  ap- 
proaching he  became  extremely  excited,  was  seized  with  a 
sensation  of  great  fear,  and  also  with  palpitation,  and  began 
to  get  jerky,  hysterical  convulsions.  He  soon  recovered,  in 
response  to  energetic  suggestions,  and  to  treating  the  attack  as 
if  it  were  a  mere  nothing,  which  would  soon  pass  over,  and 
then  the  hypnosis  was  conducted  quite  smoothly.  The  patient 
proved  himself  to  be  accessible  to  suggestion,  and  was  easily 
brought  into  the  hypotactic  stage,  with  beginning  amnesia  in 


246  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

the  first  sitting.  The  suggestions  which  were  given  at  first 
dealt  with  improving  his  sleep,  removing  all  his  minor  com- 
plaints, and  replacing  his  depressed  mood  by  a  collected  and 
contented  one.  In  this  the  result  was  striking.  His  sleep  be- 
came longer  and  quieter,  his  mood  became  more  composed,  even 
if  it  did  remain  somewhat  unstable.  He  acknowledged  the  bene- 
ficial influence  of  each  hypnosis  himself.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  conversations  from  this  time  onward,  was  energetic  in 
going  for  walks  or  bicycle  rides  in  the  neighborhood,  gained 
confidence  in  himself  again,  and  looked  into  the  future  full  of 
hope. 

"  The  condition  of  his  memory  naturally  absorbed  our  special 
interest.  The  memory  for  the  present  and  for  recent  times  could 
not  be  considered  good,  but  could  scarcely  be  regarded  as  being 
morbidly  changed.  Mr.  !N\  presented  the  picture  of  a  person 
who,  in  ordinary  life,  would  be  styled  l  forgetful,'  such  as  one 
meets  with  in  almost  every  social  sphere.  For  example,  he 
forgot  to  fulfill  a  commission,  which  he  had  been  requested  to 
carry  out  immediately,  for  several  days ;  he  failed  to  recognize 
a  shop  again  after  a  short  time,  because  the  window-blinds  were 
pulled  down  to  keep  off  the  sun ;  he  often  left  parcels  in  shops, 
and  he  misplaced  things  frequently,  and  had  great  difficulty  in 
finding  them  again.  His  memory  seemed  to  be  specially  imper- 
fect for  names  of  people.  Mr.  !N".  was  quite  conscious  of  this 
weakness,  and  therefore  wrote  down  important  things  at  once, 
to  remind  himself  of  them;  but  he  obviously  did  not  trust 
his  memory  as  far  as  it  could  be  trusted,  since  he  lost  much  of 
his  self-confidence  as  the  result  of  the  disclosure  of  his  memorial 
defect. 

"  Next,  great  interest  was  evinced  in  an  investigation  to  see 
if  some  impression  or  other  had  remained  from  the  intermedia- 
ate  period  between  the  time  when  his  memory  had  gradually 
been  lost  and  that  when  it  returned.  It  was  hoped  that  some 
such  impression  might  be  spontaneously  reproduced,  and  that 
the  memory  might  partly  or  wholly  be  reinstated  in  connection 
with  this.  It  was  therefore  intentional  that  suggestion  was  not 
applied  in  this  direction  at  first.  The  following  was  elicited: 
On  being  asked  about  the  name  of  the  ship  on  board  which  he 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL   AMNESIA  247 

had  traveled  home  to  Europe,  Mr.  N.  thought  that  it  was 
Orotava,  but  this  was  only  mentioned  after  he  had  been  assisted 
with  the  first  letters  of  the  name.  On  mentioning  the  real  name 
Oroya  to  him,  he  did  not  appear  to  recognize  it.  The  patient 
had  mentioned  the  name  of  a  steamship  Orotava  in  a  letter 
which  he  had  written  during  the  time  when  he  was  quite  well 
as  being  the  name  of  the  ship  which  would  carry  the  letter 
from  Australia  home.  The  memorial  impression  of  the  word 
Orotava  must,  therefore,  have  been  preserved  in  his  brain,  but 
must  have  been  falsely  associated  on  its  turning  up  without  being 
connected  with  any  other  impression,  and  thus  would  be  substi- 
tuted for  the  word  Oroya,  which  certainly  has  a  similar  sound. 

"  Some  days  later  the  patient  was  visited  by  his  parents,  who 
found  their  son  absolutely  unchanged  in  himself.  On  being 
reminded  by  them  of  the  conclusions  of  his  studies  in  A.,  of 
the  applications  for  his  new  post,  and  of  the  preparations  for 
his  sea-trip,  he  failed  to  recognize  anything.  His  parents  fur- 
ther brought  the  letters  with  them  which  the  patient  had  writ- 
ten to  them  during  his  journey  and  during  the  early  part  of 
his  residence  in  Australia.  Mr.  !N".  recognized  his  own  hand- 
writing in  them,  it  is  true ;  but  for  the  rest  they  seemed  to  him 
to  be  something  quite  new  and  unknown.  One  of  these  letters 
was  then  read  aloud  to  him,  in  which  he  described  minutely 
his  rooms  in  Z. ;  this,  too,  met  with  a  negative  result.  The 
rest  of  the  letters  were  kept  from  him  for  the  time,  so  that  the 
remembrance  of  what  he  read  and  the  memories  of  what  he  had 
actually  experienced,  which  might  chance  to  make  their  appear- 
ance, should  not  be  hopelessly  confused.  Besides,  he  himself 
requested  that  this  should  be  done,  for  these  letters  excited  and 
confused  him. 

"  By  a  lucky  chance,  a  certain  Mr.  D.,  from  Australia,  who 
had  frequently  met  our  patient  in  Z.,  was  staying  in  Ziirich  at 
this  time  for  the  benefit  of  his  health.  Both  doctor  and  patient 
looked  forward  to  the  visit  of  this  gentleman,  whom  the  patient 
had  not  known  before  he  went  to  Australia,  with  equal  interest. 
Shortly  before,  Mr.  N.  remarked,  on  being  asked,  that  he 
could  not  remember  the  gentleman  at  all,  nor  yet  form  any  pic- 
ture of  him.  He,  however,  believed  that  he  knew  that  some 


248  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

gentleman  or  other  had  two  children,  and  the  name  of  one  of 
them  was  a  very  striking  one,  probably  Achilles.  This  might 
be  the  gentleman.  Mr.  D.  greeted  the  patient  as  an  old  acquain- 
tance, reminded  him  of  this  and  that  occurrence  in  Z.,  and  of 
the  time  they  had  spent  together,  while  not  only  the  personality 
of  Mr.  D.,  but  also  all  that  he  said,  were  absolutely  strange 
and  new  to  the  patient.  He  felt  very  awkward  in  his  presence, 
as  if  he  were  sitting  on  hot  bricks.  On  the  other  hand,  it  turned 
out  that  Mr.  D.  actually  did  have  two  children,  and  that  one 
of  them  was  called  Alarich,  but  not  Achilles.  But  there  was 
not  the  least  agreement  between  the  conception  which  the  patient 
attempted  to  call  forth  about  the  ages,  height,  and  appearance 
of  the  children  and  Mr.  D.'s  actual  descriptions.  Mr.  D. 
assured  us  that  as  long  as  he  had  had  the  opportunity  of  observ- 
ing him  in  Z. — that  is,  until  his  departure  for  the  interior — 
the  patient  had  always  created  a  perfectly  normal  impression 
on  him,  not  only  in  his  speech,  but  also  in  his  dealings. 

"  Shortly  before  a  second  visit  the  name  of  a  certain  Mr.  R. 
suddenly  occurred  to  the  patient,  and  as  he  did  not  remember 
ever  having  had  anything  to  do  with  a  person  of  this  name,  he 
concluded  that  the  knowledge  of  his  name  must  belong  to  the 
Australian  period  which  was  lacking  in  his  memory.  He  was 
unable  to  form  any  idea  as  to  the  appearance  or  position  of  this 
gentleman.  On  inquiring  of  Mr.  D.,  one  learned  that  R.  was 
the  name  of  a  certain  person  who  must  have  been  connected 
with  our  patient  in  business  in  Australia. 

"  The  larger  proportion  of  his  property,  and  obviously  all 
those  things  which  he  had  got  shortly  before  his  departure  or  in 
Australia,  were  new  and  unfamiliar  things  to  the  patient.  He 
did  not  know  how  he  had  become  possessed  of  them,  but  was 
even  astonished  at  the  appearance  and  quality  of  his  articles 
of  clothing.  Even  the  finding  of  the  visiting-card  of  an  English 
stranger,  presumably  an  acquaintance  on  board  ship,  and  a 
sheet  of  note-paper  bearing  the  name  of  the  steamer  by  which 
he  had  sailed  to  Australia,  did  not  assist  him  in  awakening  a 
wider  circle  of  impressions  of  memory.  The  same  also  applies 
to  his  own  visiting-card,  on  which  the  post  he  held  in  Australia 
was  attached  to  his  name.  He  regarded  all  these  proofs  of  an 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  249 

epoch  which  had  passed  out  of  his  consciousness  with  visible 
astonishment. 

"  The  following  episode  is  curious  and  very  interesting.  In 
it  Mr.  N.  succeeded  in  reawakening  a  tiny  portion  of  his  lost 
recollections.  It  struck  him,  while  he  was  riding  on  the  electric 
trams,  which  travel  very  rapidly  in  this  place,  but  which  make 
a  great  deal  of  noise,  that  he  experienced  a  curious  sensation, 
and  that  he  must  have  been  in  a  similar  tram  before  in  his  life, 
which  had  traveled  just  as  quickly,  and  which  made  an  abso- 
lutely similar  vibrating  noise.  But  he  was  sure  that  the  tram 
of  which  he  was  thinking  did  not  have  overhead  wires,  but 
derived  its  electric  current  from  a  live  rail  below  the  ground. 
There  was  not  a  single  tram-line  of  this  kind  in  any  of  the 
towns  which  he  could  remember,  and  therefore  he  had  to  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  dealing  on  this  occasion  with  a 
recollection  from  his  stay  in  Z. 

"  Since  it  appeared  to  be  quite  hopeless  to  wait  for  any 
further  spontaneous  filling  in  of  the  defects  of  the  memory, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  deal  with  the  amnesia  in  the  following 
hypnoses  by  means  of  suggestion.  For  this  purpose  the  episode 
of  the  electric  tram,  mentioned  above,  was  used  as  an  association. 
Mr.  K.  was  subjected  to  the  suggestion  that  he  was  seated  in  a 
car  of  the  said  tramway,  that  he  was  able  to  recall  all  the  details 
again,  and  also  to  remember  the  passengers  traveling  with  him 
in  the  car.  One  was  actually  able  to  record  a  result  in  this, 
inasmuch  as  the  patient  was  capable  during  the  hypnosis  of 
describing  the  construction  of  the  car  and  the  distribution  of 
the  seats,  both  of  which  differed  greatly  from  that  of  the  cars 
in  this  town.  On  being  asked  which  route  the  tramway  fol- 
lowed, he  cried  out,  '  Uphill,  uphill ! '  several  times.  He  was 
only  able  to  say  of  the  passengers  in  the  car  that  they  had 
thinner  faces  than  the  inhabitants  of  this  part  of  the  world. 
The  patient  made  a  little  sketch  of  the  construction  of  the  tram- 
cars  on  awakening  from  the  hypnosis.  On  inquiring  of  Mr.  D., 
we  learned  that  Mr.  N.  had  actually  ridden  daily  in  the  tram- 
cars,  that  the  route  really  went  uphill,  and  that  the  arrange- 
ments were  certainly  of  the  type  which  was  shown  by  his 
account. 


250  HYPNOTISM    AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

"  Lastly,  it  must  be  stated  that  the  patient  assured  us  very 
definitely  twice  or  three  times  in  the  morning  that  he  had 
dreamed  that  he  was  in  Australia,  and  that  he  had  spoken  to 
various  persons  there.  However,  all  the  details  had  entirely 
disappeared  in  the  meanwhile,  so  that  one  could  not  gain  any 
further  associations  from  this. 

"  After  the  attempt  to  awaken  the  memory  by  means  of  the 
forgotten  episode  had  only  been  followed  by  a  very  slight  result, 
it  appeared  for  some  time  as  if  the  case  would  not  be  accessible 
to  a  continued  hypnotic  treatment.  Professor  Forel  began  to 
give  up  all  hope  of  restoring  the  memory  for  the  amnesic  period 
after  some  weeks  had  passed  without  any  progress  having  been 
made.  But  before  the  observations  were  discontinued  he  got 
the  idea  of  choosing  the  last-remembered  time  of  Mr.  N.'s  stay 
in  A.  as  the  starting-point  of  the  suggestion  instead  of  the  stay 
in  Australia.  This  change  in  method  brought  with  it  an  unex- 
pected result.  During  several  hypnoses,  which  one  was  gradu- 
ally able  to  render  deeper  and  to  induce  more  rapidly,  the  period 
into  which  he  was  now  required  to  transfer  himself  was  sketched 
out  to  him  in  outline  progressing  consecutively,  and  it  was  sug- 
gested to  him  that  he  would  remember  all  the  details  of  this 
period  exactly  at  once,  and  after  he  had  awakened.  After  the 
patient  had  related  what  he  knew  afresh,  a  second  hypnosis  was 
frequently  induced  at  once,  and  in  this  the  suggestion  was 
given  to  continue  from  that  point  which  had  been  reached  in 
the  previous  hypnosis. 

"  The  first  result  consisted  in  Mr.  N.  remembering  that  dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  his  stay  in  A.  he  no  longer  attended  his 
college  regularly,  but  had  devoted  himself  instead  to  cycling. 
In  response  to  the  suggestion  that  he  would  remember  all  that 
had  taken  place  prior  to  his  appointment,  the  name  of  a  certain 
official  suddenly  occurred  to  him  (we  can  call  him  Bernhard), 
and  this  was  soon  followed  by  an  exact  description  of  his  appear- 
ance and  clothing.  In  connection  with  this,  Mr.  !N".  recollected 
that  he  had  paid  this  gentleman  several  visits,  and  that  it  was 
through  him  that  the  preliminaries  had  been  gone  through. 
lAfter  the  next  hypnosis  it  suddenly  occurred  to  the  patient  that 
he  had  undertaken  a  journey  to  the  capital  shortly  after  Christ- 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  251 

mas,  but  he  was  not  able  to  give  any  account  of  his  stay  there. 
It  was  only  after  the  following  sitting  that  he  was  able  to  men- 
tion the  name  of  the  hotel  where  he  had  put  up  in  response  to 
a  corresponding  suggestion;  he  also  named  the  street  in  which 
the  hotel  was  placed,  the  duration  of  his  stay,  and  the  business 
transacted  with  the  official  board.  Then  he  gradually  gained 
a  clear  remembrance  of  the  town,  which  he  had  never  visited 
before.  The  remembrances  regained  in  this  way  never  extended 
beyond  the  time  which  had  been  limited  by  the  suggestion 
given.  When  beginning  his  account  the  impressions  of  memory 
never  appeared  to  be  very  distinct,  and  Mr.  !N".  generally  began 
with  an  '  I  believe,'  or  l  It  seems  to  me  as  if.'  It  was  only  in  the 
course  of  the  following  sittings  that  the  pictures  gained  in 
clearness,  and  united  themselves  .to  form  a  consecutive  story. 
The  patient  further  succeeded  in  recalling  to  mind  his  journey 
back  to  A.,  and  the  preparations  for  his  journey,  which  were 
then  beginning.  In  connection  with  this,  first  of  all  it  occurred 
to  him  that  he  had  ordered  two  dozen  shirts  and  eighteen  pairs 
of  pants;  then  followed  the  short  run  down  to  the  port  of  em- 
barkation, and  he  also  remembered  having  paid  a  visit  on  his 
way.  He  was  a  little  doubtful  as  to  the  actual  recollection  of 
the  port,  since  he  had  stayed  there  a  few  times  previously.  The 
suggestion  was  now  given  to  the  patient  that  his  memory  for 
the  whole  sea-trip  would  also  be  restored  to  him,  and  this  also 
succeeded  in  the  course  of  a  few  fresh  hypnoses,  the  procedure 
being  always  as  has  already  been  described.  At  first  he  sud- 
denly recollected  the  names  of  the  captain  and  of  the  ship's 
doctor,  then  he  remembered  some  of  his  fellow-passengers,  and 
the  arrangements  and  life  on  board.  He  remembered  that  they 
had  passed  through  the  Suez  Canal  during  the  night,  and  that 
it  had  taken  an  unexpectedly  long  time.  He  was  able  to  recall 
calling  in  at  Aden  extremely  clearly;  he  was  particularly 
struck  by  seeing  the  inhabitants  decked  in  white  turbans,  and 
by  seeing  camels  lying  on  the  shore.  In  connection  with  this 
came  the  remembrance  of  a  period  of  great  heat,  and  then  the 
calling  in  at  Colombo  (Ceylon).  He  first  related  about  the 
fertile  vegetation  of  this  island,  and  about  a  little  trip  which 
he  made  into  the  interior  of  Ceylon,  but  was  somewhat  hazy 


252  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

as  to  the  destination  of  this  trip.  The  reawakening  of  the 
recollection  of  landing  in  Australia,  and  of  the  early  period 
of  his  stay  in  Z.,  offered  greater  difficulties.  Still,  after 
repeated  hypnoses  one  succeeded  in  reestablishing  the  impres- 
sions of  the  various  ports  at  which  they  called,  among  which  was 
the  port  of  L.  At  first  the  patient  was  only  able  to  say  with 
regard  to  Z.  that  it  must  have  been  very  dry  there,  and  that  the 
vegetation  was  largely  comprised  of  eucalyptus  trees  and  conif- 
erse.  To  begin  with,  he  stated  that  he  did  not  recollect  any- 
thing about  the  town  itself.  Then  the  recollection  of  the 
Botanical  Gardens  suddenly  came  back  to  him,  and  also  of  vari- 
ous trips  which  he  made  into  the  surrounding  country.  He 
spoke  of  his  landlady  by  a  certain  name,  which  he  had  remem- 
bered some  time  before,  but  which  he  could  never  associate  with 
any  definite  person.  He  then  recalled  his  lodgings  and  his  club, 
where  he  frequently  went,  and  in  this  way  he  said,  after  a  time, 
that  he  was  again  feeling  quite  at  home  in  Z.  He  also  remem- 
bered Mr.  D.  and  his  family. 

"  The  hypnotic  treatment  had  to  be  interrupted  for  a  time  at 
this  stage,  as  the  patient  was  suddenly  seized  by  an  attack  of 
pneumonia.  The  illness  ran  its  usual  course,  but  weakened 
the  patient  considerably.  As  soon  as  he  had  convalesced  suffi- 
ciently, and  it  was  thought  that  he  was  again  suitable  for  sug- 
gestion, the  hypnosis  was  started  afresh.  In  this  certain  re- 
mains of  the  penumonia,  which  we  did  not  regard  as  being  due 
to  organic  causes,  were  first  dealt  with.  We  succeeded  soon  in 
getting  his  breathing  normal — as  this  had  been  strikingly  rapid 
and  dyspnoeic,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  pneumonic  changes 
had  resolved  and  had  been  completely  absorbed — in  removing 
the  pains  which  he  felt  all  over  his  chest  (once  the  pains  sud- 
denly changed  to  the  opposite  side  in  the  region  of  the  old  shot- 
wound),  and  in  the  banishing  loss  of  appetite  and  sleep.  Apart 
from  this  we  continued  to  work  at  the  awakening  of  the  memo- 
ries as  before. 

"  The  suggestions  which  were  given  at  first  consisted  in  tell- 
ing the  patient  that  he  remembered  his  whole  residence  in  Z. 
absolutely  clearly,  and  that  he  also  remembered  his  journey  into 
the  interior  to  O.  The  result  was  that  he  recalled  various 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  253 

social  functions  later  on  which  he  had  taken  part  in,  and  at 
which  he  had  experienced  some  difficulty  in  drinking  champagne 
and  the  like  as  the  others  did.  Apart  from  this  the  name  of 
the  hotel  in  O.  occurred  to  him,  where  he  had  arrived  at,  and 
where  he  had  stayed  for  some  time,  but  this  remained  for  the 
time  being  without  any  association  of  other  occurrences.  It  was 
only  after  the  next  hypnosis  that  the  remembrance  of  the  jour- 
ney to  O.  came  back  to  him.  Mr.  N.  then  remembered  that  he 
had  accomplished  the  thirty-six-hour  journey  in  one  stretch, 
and  described  the  country  as  being  in  part  barren  and  in  part 
hilly,  and  the  vegetation  as  being  monotonous,  consisting  of  tree- 
ferns  and  the  like.  He  had  become  quite  clear  about  the  town 
of  Z.  by  this  time,  and  produced  a  vivid  description  of  its 
position  and  of  the  traffic  in  the  town.  A  new  phenomenon 
which  followed  this  hypnosis  was  noted,  and  this  consisted  in 
the  capability  on  the  part  of  the  patient  of  reproducing  the 
results  of  the  observations  which  he  had  made  in  Australia.  He 
related  in  this  way  several  things  about  the  political  and  eco- 
nomical institutions  of  the  country,  about  the  civil  administra- 
tion of  the  towns,  and  about  the  scarcity  of  workingmen  in  the 
country;  he  also  told  of  the  regulations  which  rendered  the 
immigration  of  Chinese  difficult,  and  in  connection  with  this 
it  suddenly  occurred  to  him  that  there  were  a  number  of  such 
persons  on  board  the  steamer  in  which  he  had  sailed  to  Australia, 
and  that  the  Chinese  went  about  in  Z.  with  short  hair,  and  for 
this  reason  did  not  attract  so  much  attention.  Mr.  N.  further 
recollected  several  incidents  of  his  stay  in  O.  after  this  same 
hypnosis.  On  his  arrival  a  prolonged  drought  was  taking  place, 
and  in  consequence  the  dust  lay  foot  deep  in  the  streets,  and 
many  of  the  cattle  had  died.  He  also  recollected  various  per- 
sons in  O.  with  whom  he  had  business  relations.  Among  these 
was  Mr.  R.,  whose  name,  as  has  already  been  stated,  had 
occurred  to  him  a  long  time  before,  and  with  whom,  as  he  now 
recollected,  he  had  to  transact  some  unpleasant  business  for  hav- 
ing attempted  to  place  some  obstacles  in  the  way  in  connection 
with  his  mission.  The  patient  still  became  excited  on  relating 
this  episode.  He  was  further  able  to  remember  that  he  had  felt 
unwell  soon  after  he  arrived  in  O.,  and  had  changed  his  hotel 


254  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

room  in  consequence.  He  had  gone  to  an  English  doctor,  whose 
name  began  with  a  B,  complaining  of  fever,  giddiness,  and  pal- 
pitation, and  the  doctor  had  visited  him  later  in  his  hotel.  As 
the  memory  failed  on  giving  the  last  few  details,  a  further 
hypnosis  was  induced,  and  the  patient  was  suggested  that  he 
would  now  remember  all  the  minute  incidents  of  his  illness  in 
O.  more  clearly.  It  then  occurred  to  him  that  a  second  medical 
practitioner,  a  German,  had  also  been  called  in,  and  that  they 
had  given  him  a  sleeping-draught.  His  temperature  was  not 
taken.  Apart  from  the  doctors,  only  a  waiter  had  come  into 
his  room  occasionally.  The  two  doctors  had  given  him  advice 
which  differed:  the  one  told  him  to  return  to  the  coast,  and 
remain  there  until  he  had  completely  recovered;  the  other  said 
that  he  ought  to  stay  in  O.,  and  wait  until  he  was  quite  well 
again  before  he  traveled.  He  was  quite  incapable  of  saying 
which  advice  he  followed,  and  what  he  had  done  then. 

"  The  suggestion,  which  was  given  him  on  the  following  day, 
that  he  would  now  remember  the  minute  details  of  his  depar- 
ture from  O.  and  his  return  to  Z.,  at  first  remained  without 
result.  It  was  only  on  repeating  this  on  the  following  day  that 
some  progress  was  made.  He  was  then  able  to  relate  that  on  the 
evening  of  his  departure  his  money  had  been  restored  to  him  at 
his  request,  and  that  the  gentleman  who  carried  this  out,  accom- 
panied him  to  the  station  on  the  following  day.  Mr.  N.  was 
perfectly  capable  of  remembering  his  whole  journey  and  the 
aims  of  his  activities  in  Australia  at  this  time  (at  the  time  of 
his  departure  from  O.),  in  spite  of  the  fever.  He  was  quite 
certain  of  this,  and  this  is  a  very  important  fact.  He  remem- 
bered then  having  commenced  his  return  journey  by  train  to  Z., 
and  having  obviously  been  half  asleep  in  the  railway  compart- 
ment. He  knew  nothing  whatsoever  of  his  arrival  in  Z. 

"  I  have  discussed  the  manner  in  which  the  latter  remem- 
brances were  recalled  to  his  consciousness  very  fully  for  good 
reasons.  As  we  shall  see  presently,  the  exact  knowledge  of  the 
occurrences  taking  place  about  this  time  forms  an  important 
landmark  for  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  whole  case. 

"  We  then  attempted  to  recall  to  the  patient's  memory  the 
end  of  this  journey  to  Z.,  the  arrival  there,  and  the  circum- 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL   AMNESIA  255 

stances  under  which  he  embarked  for  Europe,  in  repeated  hyp- 
noses.  These  endeavors,  however,  failed  to  elicit  any  result, 
and  the  patient  was  quite  incapable  of  remembering  a  single 
fact  about  the  commencement  of  the  journey  from  O.  to  Z. 

"  But  a  result  could  be  noted  again  when  Professor  Forel 
connected  the  suggestions  to  the  period,  which  the  patient  had 
spontaneously  retained  in  his  memory,  thus  carrying  out  a 
method  corresponding  to  the  one  which  had  led  to  favorable 
results  before.  This  time  was  the  end  of  his  passage  on  board 
the  Oroya.  The  suggestions  therefore  took  the  shape  of  declar- 
ing that  Mr.  !N".  would  now  remember  the  first  part  of  his  voy- 
age homeward,  and  then  the  embarking,  and  lastly  the  reasons 
which  impelled  him  to  take  this  step.  The  patient  was  conse- 
quently able  to  relate  a  number  of  details  of  what  he  experienced 
on  his  voyage  home.  He  stated  that,  unlike  the  majority  of  the 
other  passengers,  he  did  not  land  at  Colombo,  and  that  an 
English  sergeant,  with  his  wife  and  children,  had  come  on  board 
at  this  place.  He  was  able  to  remember  a  large  number  of 
details  respecting  the  life  on  board  the  Oroya;  one  little  girl 
had  taken  his  fancy  greatly :  he  had  often  played  with  her  and 
had  carried  her  about.  Apart  from  this,  the  life  on  the  steamer 
was  not  particularly  congenial  to  him,  and  he  had  therefore  not 
responded  to  the  invitation  to  take  part  in  various  amusements. 
He  remembered  very  vividly  two  deaths  having  taken  place 
when  they  were  in  the  open  sea,  and  also  the  burials  at  sea.  He 
occupied  himself  while  he  was  on  board  by  eating,  sleeping, 
reading  and  walking  about.  In  this  way  he  only  lived  for  the 
present,  knowing,  as  he  now  believed,  that  the  destination  of 
his  journey  was  to  be  Europe,  but  without  caring  about  what 
had  preceded  or  what  was  to  follow.  The  remembrance  of  his 
departure  from  Z.,  of  the  embarkation  in  L.,  and  of  the  first 
part  of  his  voyage,  had  still  not  been  recalled. 

"  A  number  of  hypnoses,  in  which  the  attempt  was  made  to 
fill  up  the  defects  still  remaining  in  his  memory  (these  were 
by  this  time  comparatively  small),  failed  for  the  time  being. 
The  patient  did  produce  a  whole  number  of  new  remembrances, 
which,  however,  he  had  to  refer  to  the  time  of  his  voyage  to 
Australia.  Then  all  of  a  sudden  the  recollection  of  a  long  rail- 


256  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

way  journey  by  night  suddenly  made  its  appearance,  albeit 
indistinctly.  This  journey  was  to  have  brought  him  from  Z. 
to  the  port  of  embarkation,  L.,  and  the  patient  represented  it 
as  being  in  uninterrupted  connection  with  the  journey  from  O. 
to  Z.,  which  he  now  remembered  again.  In  connection  with 
this  he  had  a  misty  impression  that  he  must  have  put  up  at  a 
small  second-class  inn  in  L.  He  was  again  hypnotized  imme- 
diately, and  given  the  suggestion  that  he  would  recall  all  about 
this  inn  clearly,  and  also  his  whole  stay  in  L.  up  to  the  time  of 
going  on  board.  He  then  became  capable  of  describing  the  said 
inn  in  detail ;  he  described  the  house  as  a  low-class  beer-house, 
and  was  quite  disgusted  with  himself  for  having  chosen  such 
bad  lodgings,  for  he  certainly  must  have  had  enough  money 
with  him.  The  name  of  the  inn  was  a  three-syllabled  one;  it 
was  situated  close  to  the  station,  and  his  room  was  so  small 
that  there  was  not  enough  room  for  all  his  luggage  to  be  brought 
in.  During  a  further  hypnosis  the  patient  was  given  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  further  details  concerning  his  stay  in  L.  would 
occur  to  him  during  the  course  of  the  day,  and  th'at  he  would 
also  have  a  clear  idea  about  embarking.  On  the  following 
morning  Mr.  N.  reported  that  the  name  of  the  street  in  which 
the  hotel  was  situated  had  occurred  to  him ;  the  name  of  the  inn 
began  with  an  '  M,'  and  was  followed  by  an  *  o  '  or  an  '  a  ' ;  the 
word  was  the  name  of  the  proprietor,  but  he  was  not  able  to  call 
the  name  completely  to  mind.  After  the  next  hypnosis,  in 
which  the  suggestions  were  repeated,  Mr.  N.  related  that  he 
had  kept  to  his  room  during  the  daytime  as  a  rule,  and  only 
went  out  toward  evening.  He  had  not  thought  much  during 
this  time,  and  was  only  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  next  ship. 
The  weather  was  disagreeably  cold  at  this  time.  He  now 
obtained  the  feeling  that  he  had  not  then  realized  that  he  had 
already  been  in  L.  previously  (on  his  voyage  out).  In  response 
to  the  suggestion  that  he  would  again  recall  the  arrangements 
in  the  harbor  and  the  embarkation,  these  recollections  also 
returned  to  him  fairly  clearly.  Mr.  N.  then  described  the  land- 
ing-stage ;  remembered  that  the  train  had  brought  him  right  up 
to  the  ship's  side,  which  was  ready  for  departure,  that  there  was 
another  ship  lying  alongside,  which  he  saw  again  in  Colombo; 


A   CASE  OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  257 

and  that  there  was  a  large  crowd  of  people  on  the  quay.  It  now 
occurred  to  him  that  the  departure  for  another  continent  had 
not  made  the  least  impression  on  him  on  this  occasion,  as  it 
had  always  done  on  previous  journeys.  He  then  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  himself  that  it  was  chiefly  the  time  when  he 
was  booking  his  passage  which  he  could  not  remember.  Even 
this  recollection  was  produced  in  response  to  definite  suggestions 
pertaining  to  this  point,  and  Mr.  JST.  then  named  the  street  in 
which  the  agent  lived,  and  also  stated  the  price  of  his  ticket 
exactly.  He  was  not  able  to  remember  giving  a  wrong  name, 
but  believed  that  this  must  have  arisen  through  a  misunder- 
standing on  the  part  of  the  English  stewards,  who  did  not 
understand  what  he  had  said. 

"  On  the  following  day  we  were  successful  at  last  in  filling 
up  the  remaining  gaps  still  persisting  in  the  memory  of  the 
time  just  mentioned  during  a  number  of  hypnoses  following 
one  another,  always  in  response  to  suitable  suggestions.  The 
patient  gave  the  following  consecutive  account :  He  had  prac- 
tically not  slept  a  wrink  during  the  time  of  his  bodily  illness 
in  O.  He  had  then  taken  a  first-class  ticket  to  Z.,  being  quite 
aware  of  what  he  was  doing.  He  fully  intended  waiting  till 
he  had  completely  recovered  in  Z.,  where  he  had  his  quarters, 
and  then  returning  to  O.  to  continue  his  business.  The  railway 
journey  had  taken  a  long  time,  and  had  lasted  all  night.  His 
compartment  at  times  wras  full  of  passengers,  and  at  times 
was  fairly  empty,  so  that  he  was  able  to  make  himself  comfort- 
able, and  he  had  fallen  to  sleep  several  times.  Having  arrived 
in  Z.  in  the  forenoon,  he  at  once  booked  to  L.,  but  left  the 
station,  where  there  were  no  waiting-rooms  or  refreshment- 
rooms  in  which  one  could  sit  down,  and  engaged  a  room  in  a 
small  inn  in  the  vicinity  of  the  station.  Here  he  took  some 
refreshment,  and  went  to  sleep  for  some  hours.  It  never 
occurred  to  him  to  go  to  his  quarters,  or  even  that  he  possessed 
them,  nor  that  he  had  ever  been  in  Z.  before,  and  that  he  had 
a  lot  of  acquaintances  there.  He  then  made  a  few  small  pur- 
chases— e.g.,  he  bought  a  comb — and  traveled  in  the  evening 
to  L.  with  the  ticket  which  he  had  taken  in  the  morning.  He 
could  not  remember  any  reason  for  having  left  Z.  again,  but 


258  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

believed  that  he  had  had  the  feeling  of  being  a  stranger  in  the 
place,  and  of  not  belonging  to  it,  and  he  had  therefore  seized 
the  first  opportunity  of  traveling  on.  On  arriving  in  L.,  he 
made  his  way  into  the  nearest  very  primitive  inn,  as  he  had 
done  in  Z.,  and  as  he  had  already  related  to  us.  He  now 
remembered  the  town  of  L.  exactly;  he  had  stayed  there  for 
some  days,  had  walked  through  the  same  streets  every  day, 
had  bought  his  ticket  for  the  passage  to  Europe,  as  has  been 
stated  above,  and  then  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  steamer.  The 
town  of  L.  appeared  to  him  to  be  entirely  strange,  and  he  had 
to  inquire  his  way  about,  although,  as  he  was  now  aware,  he 
had  actually  spent  a  few  days  there  on  his  way  out.  On  this 
occasion  also,  he  was  not  conscious  of  having  stayed  at  the  place 
a  few  weeks  previously,  and  the  idea  never  occurred  to  him  to 
look  up  any  of  his  acquaintances.  He  could  not  remember 
having  met  a  lady  at  the  station,  as  had  been  described  by  a 
third  person,  but  believed  that  if  this  were  a  fact  he  had  simply 
not  recognized  the  lady  again.  He  was  again  able  to  recollect 
the  circumstances  clearly  concerning  his  embarking:  he  had 
driven  in  a  cab  from  his  hotel  to  the  station,  a  distance  of  about 
ten  minutes'  drive,  and  had  then  traveled  right  up  to  the  ship's 
side  by  train.  He  was  also  incapable  of  ascribing  any  reason 
for  going  on  board  ship,  and  could  only  state  that  he  had  had 
the  desire  of  getting  out  of  Australia  as  quickly  as  possible,  as 
he  felt  quite  out  of  place  there.  He  had  been  perfectly  aware 
that  he  was  in  Australia,  but  did  not  know  how  he  had  got  there, 
and  that  he  had  any  business  there,  or  what  the  nature  of 
that  business  was." 

This  extremely  instructive  and  curious  case  does  not  need 
much  comment.  Mr.  N.  is  absolutely  trustworthy,  and,  apart 
from  this,  many  of  his  statements  were  confirmed  by  third 
persons. 

From  the  type  of  the  remembrances  of  the  non-retrograde 
portion  of  the  amnesia — i.e.,  of  the  return  journey  from  O. 
by  way  of  Z.  and  L.  to  Naples  and  Zurich — it  appears  that  he 
was  in  a  condition  of  dissociated,  somnambulic  confusion  of 
thoughts  during  the  whole  of  the  time.  He  must  have  lived 
without  any  thought  of  the  future,  and  have  forgotten  the  past 


A   CASE   OF   HYSTERICAL  AMNESIA  259 

day  by  day.  The  remembrances  of  these  events  reappeared 
independently  of  any  real  connection  with  one  another.  They 
were  dreamily  vague,  and  were  accompanied  by  marked  changes 
of  emotion.  He  became  so  clear  as  to  the  state  of  affairs  that 
he  told  me  that  he  now  realized  that  if  he  had  not  had  plenty 
of  money  with  him  he  would  have  died  in  misery  in  L.  He  was 
lucky  in  having  booked  his  passage  to  Europe.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  remembrances  of  the  retrograde  portion  of  the 
amnesia  (the  journey  out)  were  normally  associated. 

This  case  is  a  mine  of  wealth  for  the  mechanism  of  the 
memory  and  for  its  analysis.  The  amnesia  remained  cured.  I 
must  beg  my  readers  to  consider  the  case  especially  in  the  light 
of  my  views  on  consciousness. 


CHAPTER    X 

A    CASE    OF    DOUBLE    CONSCIOUSNESS 

M.  Z.,  an  hysterical  person  who  was  fond  of  adventure  and 
of  a  free  life,  was  hypnotized  in  a  university  town  by  some  stu- 
dents for  fun,  and  discovered  that  she  was  an  "  excellent 
medium."  She  then  went  to  Paris,  and  first  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  spiritualists  there,  and  subsequently  into  the  hands  of 
the  doctors  of  the  Charcot  school  in  the  Parisian  hospitals. 
The  spiritualists  and  telepaths  discovered  that  she  was  a  clair- 
voyant who  could  foretell  the  future,  and  who  could  presum- 
ably divulge  what  persons  were  doing  at  a  great  distance.  She 
was  only  used  as  an  object  for  demonstration  in  accordance 
with  the  pattern  of  Charcot's  hysterics  in  the  hospitals,  and  was 
declared  to  be  incurable.  In  the  meantime  she  was  used  as  a 
telepathic  wonder  by  impressarios,  and  earned  large  sums  of 
money  on  the  stage,  which  she  spent  as  fast  as  she  got  it. 

As  a  result  of  this  systematic  abuse  of  her  hysterical  somnam- 
bulism, the  latter  continued  to  develop  spontaneously.  She 
was  subject  to,  first,  spontaneous  somnambulic-hysterical  attacks, 
chiefly  during  the  night,  which  at  times  lasted  for  two  or  three 
days,  and  when  she  awakened  she  did  not  have  any  idea  of  what 
she  had  been  doing  while  in  this  condition  (1).  She  jumped 
out  of  bed,  climbed  on  the  window-sills,  roofs,  and  railings  like 
a  monkey,  but  never  lost  her  balance.  Secondly,  she  was  sub- 
ject to  spontaneous  hysterical  (hystero-epileptic)  attacks  be- 
sides (2).  In  these  she  suddenly  fell  down  unconscious,  tore 
her  hair  and  clothes,  scratched  herself,  and  then  got  up,  climbed, 
and  so  on. 

Once  she  lost  her  senses  suddenly  during  a  conversation  in 
the  street,  and  awakening  three  days  later,  took  up  the  thread 
of  her  thoughts  at  the  same  place  where  they  had  been  broken 

260 


A   CASE   OF   DOUBLE   CONSCIOUSNESS  261 

off  without  knowing  what  she  had  done  during  the  three  days. 
I  shall  return  to  this  "  three  days'  wandering  "  later.  The 
doctors  were  never  able  to  influence  her  hysterical  attacks  (2). 
Let  me  call  her  usual  waking  condition  M.  Z.,  and  her  som- 
nambulic  condition  F.  L. 

As  a  result  of  the  continued  abuse  of  her  brain  on  the  part 
of  the  spiritualists  and  of  the  hospital  doctors  who  hanker 
after  the  supernatural  (I  will  not  express  my  opinion  about 
this  behavior),  M.  Z.  got  increasingly  nervous,  moody,  irritable, 
and  on  account  of  her  hysterical  crises  (1  and  2)  became  less 
and  less  capable  of  earning  a  living.  She  returned  to  her 
home,  and  was  handed  over  to  me  for  treatment. 

She  was  a  slender  little  thing,  about  thirty  years  of  age, 
with  a  penetrating  look,  which  became  fixed  easily,  was  ex- 
tremely moody  and  obstinate,  possessed  the  character  'of  a 
gypsy,  being  driven  by  the  impulses  of  the  moment,  but  was  very 
intelligent  withal.  She  had  undertaken  all  sorts  of  things,  but 
had  not  done  anything  thoroughly,  and  had  acquired  a  peculiar 
form  of  half -education.  She  liked  her  free  Parisian  life 
beyond  all  things,  was  very  skillful  at  certain  kinds  of  work, 
but  was  not  persevering,  and  could  be  either  very  simple  or 
very  exacting,  according  to  circumstances.  It  was  difficult  to 
persuade  her  to  submit  to  suggestive  treatment,  as  she  was  of 
opinion  that  it  would  be  of  no  avail.  I  had  first  to  explain  to 
her  that  this  was  quite  different  from  the  hypnosis  of  the  Sal- 
petriere  in  Paris. 

I  succeeded  in  putting  her  into  a  condition  of  somnambulism 
at  once  and  commenced  a  conversation  with  her,  suggesting 
especially  that  the  somnambulism  and  the  hysterical  attacks 
were  cured.  However,  it  soon  became  clear  that  a  second  per- 
sonality (I  call  this  F.  L.)  had  developed  during  the  somnam- 
bulic  condition.  F.  L.  spoke  of  herself  in  the  third  person,  and 
knew  a  number  of  things  of  which  M.  Z.  was  unaware.  F.  L. 
was  an  artist,  loved  the  moon  passionately  and  felt  herself 
drawn  toward  her  at  night-time  in  consequence.  F.  L.  was 
obviously  sexually  perverted,  and  had  desires  for  her  own  sex, 
while  M.  Z.  was  relatively  normal  sexually  only  showing  slight 
perverse  inclinations  (she  was  fond  of  biting  her  lover  until 


262  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

she  drew  blood).  I  succeeded  in  finding  out  by  means  of  a  few 
repeated  questions  at  all  events,  in  part,  what  she  had  done 
in  Paris  during  the  three  days  which  had  disappeared 
out  of  M.  Z.'s  memory.  She  answered  me,  however,  hesitat- 
ingly and  with  difficulty.  Like  Mr.  N.  (see  Dr.  Naef's  case), 
she  was  only  able  to  re-associate  single  situations  of  her  somnam- 
bulic  condition  with  difficulty.  In  this  the  nature  of  dreamlike 
dissociation  in  thinking  was  illustrated  afresh.  She  had  slept 
with  "  Anna  T."  in  one  bed,  and  had  carried  out  lesbian  inter- 
course with  her;  she  had  been  in  the  Quartier  Latin  in  doubt- 
ful society,  then  she  had  called  in  at  the  flower-painter  Durand's 
in  C.  Street,  and  had  painted  some  flowers  there,  etc.  She  only 
admitted  the  lesbian  intercourse  hesitatingly,  but  with  ecstatic 
looks  and  with  euphoristic  enthusiasm. 

When  I  declared  very  definitely  to  her  then  that  M.  Z.  and 
F.  L.  were  one  and  the  same  person,  and  that  all  that  F.  L. 
did  was  stupid  morbid  nonsense,  and  when  I  told  her  that  she 
must  sleep  quietly  at  night-time,  and  that  I  forbade  F.  L.  to 
wander  about,  she  became  very  excited,  offered  opposition,  spoke 
of  her  beloved  moon,  and  so  on.  I  then  attempted  to  suggest 
to  F.  L.  (the  somnambulist)  that  she,  as  M.  Z.,  would  remember 
everything  on  awakening  that  she  had  admitted — that  is  to  say 
told  me  in  her  character  as  F.  L.  However,  I  had  to  desist 
within  a  short  time,  for  the  patient  only  became  very  excited  by 
this,  got  a  headache,  and  nearly  got  an  hysterical  attack,  and 
I  would  soon  have  lost  all  my  influence  over  her.  M.  Z.  was 
obviously  ashamed  and  emotionally  affected  by  the  dawning 
remembrances,  especially  those  of  the  homo-sexual  nature. 
Later  on  I  tried  to  relate  the  matter  to  M.  Z.  during  the  waking 
condition.  At  first  she  became  so  excited  about  it  that  I  had 
to  leave  the  sexual  theme  at  all  events  untouched.  She  had 
never  been  able  to  paint — that  was  all  stupid  nonsense,  etc. 
After  she  had  improved  considerably  she  told  me  spontaneously 
one  day  that  something  was  becoming  clear  to  her.  She  was  in 
possession  of  a  photograph  of  herself  which  had  always  been 
a  puzzle  to  her.  She  was  wearing  a  blouse  in  the  picture,  and 
was  standing  in  front  of  an  easel  with  a  paint-brush  and  palette 
in  her  hand.  She  was  not  aware  of  ever  having  been  photo- 


A   CASE   OF   DOUBLE   CONSCIOUSNESS  263 

graphed  in  such  a  costume,  and  she  had  never  painted ;  further, 
she  had  no  idea  how  she  had  got  hold  of  this  picture,  but  she 
had  been  forced  to  recognize  herself  in  the  picture,  which  she 
had  found  in  her  pocket  one  day.  The  matter  must  have  had 
some  connection  with  what  I  had  told  her  about  F.  L.  On 
the  following  day  she  really  did  bring  me  her  photograph  as 
a  painter;  it  was  just  as  she  had  described.  Her  look  was 
markedly  fixed  in  the  picture. 

The  patient  got  a  somnambulic  attack  that  night,  having 
been  rather  excited  by  my  attempts.  She  came  to  me  in  the 
morning  very  disturbed  in  her  mind,  and  told  me  that  she  must 
have  gone  out  of  her  room  in  her  chemise  during  the  night, 
for  on  awakening  in  the  morning  she  found  herself  on  the 
floor  with  dirty  feet,  her  door  open,  and  everything  in  disorder, 
and  she  was  very  tired.  She  related  during  the  hypnosis  (as 
F.  L.)  all  of  that  which  M.  Z.  had  forgotten.  The  moon  had 
shown  brightly.  This  was  a  fact.  The  moon  had  attracted 
her ;  she  had  vaulted  the  banister  in  her  chemise,  and  had  gone 
into  the  fields  to  look  at  the  beloved  moon. 

It  now  became  quite  clear  to  me  that  experimenting  was  only 
doing  the  patient  harm,  however  interesting  it  might  be.  I 
should  have  liked  to  have  tested  her  supposed  telepathic  capa- 
bilities, but  I  had  to  deny  myself  this,  for  I  should  have  had 
to  use  F.  L.  for  this.  But  my  duty  consisted  in  the  contrary 
of  this — i.e.,  in  suppressing  F.  L.  so  that  M.  Z.  might  regain 
her  health  by  means  of  normal  sleep.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how 
can  a  person  remain  healthy  if  she  is  mentally  active  during 
sleep  as  wrell  as  during  waking?  She  must  become  nervous, 
incapable  of  working,  irritable,  and  like  an  hysterical  plaything 
in  unscrupulous  hands,  just  like  this  poor  victim  of  the  craving 
for  experiment  and  the  curiosity  of  the  students,  spiritualists, 
and  doctors.  My  experiments  hitherto,  however,  had  been 
necessary,  since  they  had  given  the  key  to  the  double  existence 
of  the  patient. 

I  left  off  giving  orders  which  were  unpalatable  to  her  from 
this  time,  did  not  return  again  to  the  homo-sexual  theme,  and 
tried  to  win  over  the  somnambulist  F.  L.  by  showing  a  sympa- 
thetic interest. 


264  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  she  was  hypnotized  accord- 
ing to  Wetterstrand's  system  in  the  same  room  as  other  patients, 
and  the  suggestions  were  whispered  into  her  ear  (as  I  always 
do).  I  then  flattered  F.  L.,  and  explained  to  her  my  scientific 
views  in  a  friendly  manner.  She  (F.  L.)  knew  of  M.  Z.'s 
existence,  while  M.  Z.  did  not  know  anything  about  her  (F.  L.). 
But  both  were  existing  in  the  same  brain,  and  the  poor  brain 
would  perish  from  this  double  work.  I  applied  to  F.  L.'s 
generosity;  she  must  sacrifice  herself  to  make  room  for  a 
healthy  M.  Z.  She  would  have  to  give  up  the  moon,  and  sleep, 
etc.  I  obtained  a  promise  to  this  effect  from  F.  L.  by  kindly 
persuasion.  I  then  declared  to  her  the  impossibility  of  getting 
out  of  bed  during  sleep,  and  even  of  moving  about  in  bed,  sug- 
gested deep,  absolutely  quiet  sleep  during  the  night,  etc. 

The  result  was  a  continuous  tranquility.  A  few  mild  som- 
nambulic  attacks,  it  is  true,  did  take  place,  but  she  did  not  leave 
her  room  again,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  even  these 
attacks  ceased.  At  the  same  time  M.  Z.  improved  visibly.  Her 
appetite  and  capability  for  work  returned.  The  changing 
mood  (sadness,  irritability,  etc.)  stopped  also.  In  short,  after 
a  few  months  M.  Z.  was  in  a  position  to  enter  into  service  with 
an  elderly  lady.  Since  then  she  appeared  to  be  quite  cured,  and 
wrote  to  the  woman  with  whom  she  had  lived  a  very  happy  and 
bright  letter,  saying  that  she  was  now  cured,  after  having  been 
ill  for  many  years.  I  had  given  her  an  amulet  as  a  precaution 
in  case  of  a  temporary  disturbance  of  her  nervous  system,  with 
which  she  could  put  herself  to  sleep  for  half  an  hour  and  tran- 
quilize  herself. 

Although  this  case  is  not  so  striking  as  that  of  Mr.  N.  with 
his  Australian  journey,  it  is  nevertheless  very  instructive  on 
account  of  the  analysis.  It  confirms  the  rule  which  I  would 
wish  to  formulate. 

A  person  does  not  know  anything,  or  only  knows  very  little, 
about  his  sleep  life  during  the  waking  condition.  During  som- 
nambulism or  the  sleeping  condition,  on  the  other  hand,  he  gen- 
erally knows  of  his  waking  condition.  F.  L.  knew  of  M.  Z., 
and  spoke  of  her  as  the  "  second  F."  But  this  is  a  detached, 
dissociated  knowledge,  a  dreamlike  knowledge.  The  somnam- 


A  CASE   OF  DOUBLE   CONSCIOUSNESS  265 

bulist  only  has  knowledge  of  a  few  half  hallucinated  pictures 
both  from  his  actions  and  thoughts  during  the  somnambulism, 
and  from  his  doings  and  thoughts  in  the  waking  condition. 
These  pictures  follow  one  another  mistily  dissociated,  while 
only  the  automatic  instinct  life  remains  well  associated.  One 
must  therefore  presume  the  existence  of  a  "  third,"  more  animal 
consciousness,  which  is  connected  more  with  the  activity  of  the 
subjected  brain  centers  while  the  dream-consciousness  belongs 
to  the  dissociated  cerebral  activity.  In  the  somnambulic  condi- 
tion F.  L.  was  as  nimble  as  a  cat,  climbed  on  railings,  and 
waltzed  in  giddy  heights  (as  she  had  often  been  told),  while 
M.  Z.  was  very  careful  and  nervous. 


CHAPTER   XI 

SUGGESTION   IN    ITS  EELATION   TO    MEDICINE   AND   TO    QTTACKEBY 

IN  spite  of  all  the  drastic  satires  which  the  priests  of  ^Esculapius 
have  had  to  submit  to  in  all  times,  and  which  Moliere's  "  M.  le 
Pourceaugnac,"  "  Le  Malade  imaginaire,"  etc.,  are  perhaps  the 
severest,  they  (the  priests)  always  relapse  into  their  old  mis- 
takes, as  if  they  were  incorrigible  in  this  respect,  and  as  if 
they  were  compelled  by  some  law  of  Xature.  I  may  mention 
the  following  as  being  some  of  these  mistakes:  professional 
etiquette,  belief  in  the  authorities,  the  dogma  of  infallibility, 
preconceived  judgment,  and,  above  all,  the  complementing  of 
real  knowledge  by  autosuggestions,  which  acquire  the  characters 
of  aphorisms  and  of  axioms,  credulity  in  the  simplest  deduc- 
tions concerning  therapeutic  results,  and  also  (this  must  not 
be  forgotten),  unfortunately,  charlatanism.  Every  calling  has 
its  weaknesses,  and  also  its  black  sheep,  and  we  should  beware 
of  the  implicated  metaphysics  of  some  theologians,  and  of  the 
hard,  often  pettifogging  dogmatism  of  some  lawyers,  in  which 
they  disregard  all  psychological  observations  on  man.  However, 
it  is  certainly  more  advantageous  to  study  and  combat  our  own 
weaknesses  and  diseases  than  to  wait  until  some  unknown  quack 
turns  up  to  teach  us  and  to  laugh  at  us.  The  lawyers  are 
beginning  to  weed  these  things  out,  and  are  adapting  themselves 
to  the  results  of  scientific  investigation.  The  scientifically  edu- 
cated medical  practitioner  ought  not  to  fall  behind  and  claim 
the  privilege  of  dogmatism  and  of  superficial  credulity. 

One  is  always  inclined  to  forget  that,  apart  from  the  larger 
part  of  external  treatment,  perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  patients 
recover  of  their  own  account,  and  that  the  half  of  the  remain- 
ing third  either  become  incurable  or  die,  without  troubling 
themselves  about  our  treatment.  If  we  really  improve  or  cure 

266 


THERAPEUTICS  267 

the  last  sixth,  we  are  doing  a  great  deal,  and  we  must,  without 
doubt,  keep  on  asking  the  question,  "  Have  you  not  done  more 
harm  than  good  ?  "  in  order  to  keep  the  balance  of  our  thera- 
peutic conscience.  What  is  it  that  really  has  cured  the  patient  ?1 
Of  course,  one  is  not  to  include  prophylaxis  in  this. 

The  more  exact  a  science  is,  the  greater  are  the  exactions 
which  are  made  of  its  disciples  in  respect  to  exactness  of 
results  (compare,  e.g.,  mathematics  and  zoology).  But  the  less 
exact  sciences  may  not  sin  on  this  account,  as  if  a  license  were 
held,  and  dispense  with  the  logic  of  thinking  reason,  but  must 
take  its  uncertainties  and  weaknesses  openly  into  account,  and 
search  for  greater  exactness  and  new  points  of  view  in  studying 
obscure  questions.  The  matter  has  an  extraordinary  appear- 
ance in  therapeutic  "  science."  In  those  of  this  branch  Jn  which 
a  more  exact  and  clearer  knowledge  already  exists  we  meet 
with  a  more  critical  mind,  more  exacting  requirements,  and  a 
much  greater  reserve  in  the  claims.  The  enormous  advances 
of  surgery  have  made  this  branch  more  modest  and  more  care- 
ful. The  less  medicine  knows  in  any  one  branch,  the  more 
dogmatic  are  the  therapeutic  claims,  and  the  bog  of  the  present- 
day  medicinal  therapy  is  scarcely  less  sticky  than  the  bog  of 
the  herbal  mixtures  of  the  past  or  of  the  yard-long  prescriptions 
consisting  of  twenty  different  constituents.  It  is  true  that  chem- 
istry has  to  maintain  the  appearance  of  scientific  soundness  for 
modern  remedies  in  the  place  of  botany ;  still,  this  is  only  chang- 
ing the  label.  The  unfathomable  wantonness  with  which  thera- 
peutic results  are  cast  about  and  boasted  of,  in  medical  journals, 
societies,  etc.,  often  for  the  purpose  of  advertising,  and  mostly 
with  a  disregard  of  the  elements  of  logic  and  the  most  modest 
claims  of  scientific  methods,  has  acquired  most  terrifying  dimen- 
sions through  the  ever-increasing  mass  of  the  press.  It  has 
grown  into  a  true  medical  cachexia.  If  we  add  to  this  the 
bouncing  advertisements  which  are  perpetrated  without  regard 
of,  and  in  opposition  to,  all  science,  by  hydrotherapy,  balneo- 
therapy,  electrotherapy,  metallotherapy,  massage,  and  the  sys- 
tems of  Dr.  Y.  and  Father  Z.,  etc.,  we  gain  a  picture  which  is 
as  sad  as  it  is  well  known,  and  in  which  the  laity  will  soon  be 
1  See  also  Sonderegger,  "The  Outposts  of  Hygienic  Measures." 


268  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

unable  to  distinguish  the  swindler  from  the  serious  doctor.  A 
very  pernicious  modern  symptom  is  met  with  in  the  paid  medi- 
cal reports  on  this  or  that  remedy  or  this  or  that  method,  insti- 
tuted by  enterprising  companies  for  their  own  benefit.  The 
beer  brewers  of  Germany  in  1905  secretly  went  even  so  far  as  to 
found  their  own  illustrated  magazine,  in  order  to  smuggle 
into  it  the  medical  opinions  written  by  those  in  authority,  in 
opposition  to  the  total  abstinence  movement.  The  professors 
in  question  have  been  craftily  ensnared,  and  their  confidence 
has  been  grossly  abused.  But  the  matter  is,  nevertheless,  sig- 
nificant. 

What  I  have  just  written  is  common  knowledge,  but  I 
regarded  it  to  be  necessary  to  repeat  it.  I  will  not  ask,  "  A  qui 
la  f aute  ?  "  for  that  would  be  idle ;  but  I  may  ask,  "  Are  there 
no  means  of  curing  this  therapeutic  disease  ?  "  I  think  that  I 
can  answer  this  partly  in  the  affirmative,  and  am  of  opinion 
that  one  of  these  lies  in  an  exact  study  of  the  weaknesses  of 
therapeutic  logic  in  its  relation  to  suggestion. 

When  a  secret  activity  invariably  takes  place,  apparently  in 
response  to  absolutely  varying  causes,  which  contradict  one 
another  and  act  irrespective  of  any  law  in  the  same  regular  way, 
with  the  same  substance  or  with  the  same  organism,  human 
logic  is  justified  in  assuming  that  some  of  the  apparent  causes 
are  either  not  really  causes  or  are  only  indirect  ones,  which  set 
the  actual  cause — i.e.,  the  real  mechanism  of  the  constant  occur- 
rence— into  action  in  an  obscure  way.  It  then  becomes  neces- 
sary to  discover  the  latter.  A  person  who  does  not  understand 
anything  about  electricity  cannot  comprehend  why  an  electric 
bell  rings  either  when  one  presses  the  button  or  when  one  adds 
fresh  elements  to  increase  the  current,  or  when  a  mouse  gnaws 
through  the  insulation  of  two  wires  touching  each  other.  He 
will  believe  in  the  three  different  causes  which  he  can  perceive 
if  he  is  thoughtless,  but  if  he  considers  the  matter  carefully 
he  will  realize  that  some  common  cause  lies  at  the  bottom  of  it 
all.  R.  Semon  built  up  his  ingenious  theory  of  the  mneme 
on  the  basis  of  such-like  considerations. 

I  must  request  the  reader  to  consider  the  process  of  the 
cure  of  an  idiopathic  neuralgia  or  of  a  functional  paralysis. 


THERAPEUTIC  ACTION  269 

One  sees  it  taking  place  miraculously  immediately  on  applying 
the  remedy,  or  advancing  by  stages,  sitting  after  sitting,  no 
matter  whether  this  cure  be  effected  by  electric  treatment  (and, 
according  to  the  theory  of  each  electrotherapeutist,  by  the  most 
contradictory  forms  of  current  and  of  application  of  the  same),1 
hydrotherapy,  massage,  metallotherapy,  antipyrine,  quinine, 
tincture  of  valerian,  and  the  like,  taken  internally;  stretching 
of  nerves,  blisters,  blood-letting,  inhalation  of  amyl  nitrite, 
fright,  the  laying  on  of  hands,  homeopathy,  secret  remedies  of 
all  kinds,  vegetarianism,  the  so-called  "  natural  methods," 
prayer,  herbs  (prepared  by  a  somnambulist  or  some  such  for- 
tune-teller), the  holy  water  of  Lourdes,  persuasion  according 
to  Dubois,  ...  or  suggestion.  No  remedy  acts  in  all 
cases,  but  each  of  the  remedies  named  actually  acts  in  a  large 
number.  The  remedy  which  has  once  acted  in  a  certain  person 
is  likely  to  act  in  recurrences,  especially  if  the  patient  con- 
tinues to  have  faith  in  it.  I  wish  to  call  especial  attention  to 
the  following:  Each  of  these  remedies  acts  especially  well  in 
the  hands  of  those  doctors,  quacks,  priests,  midwives,  or  old 
women  who  believe  in  the  action  themselves,  and  the  other 
remedies  generally  fail  in  their  action  when  applied  by  them. 
This  is  the  reason  why  there  are  so  many  contradictory  opinions 
on  this  subject.  It  is  useless  to  laugh  and  to  meet  my  argument 
with  the  statement  that  this  is  based  on  humbugging  or  faulty 
observation.  Both  of  these  may  occasionally  play  a  part,  but 
the  law  is  much  too  constant  to  be  explained  in  this  way.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  it,  and  the  practitioner  who  believes  that 
valerian  is  the  only  effective  remedy  for  neuralgia  obtains  the 
best  results  with  this  drug,  just  as  the  one  who  believes  the 
same  of  a  certain  application  of  a  constant  current  will  cele- 
brate his  victories  with  this  method.  But  one  must,  of  course, 
accept  everything  with  a  grain  of  salt,  since  not  only  the  belief 
of  the  practitioner,  but  also  that  of  the  patient,  comes  into 
play,  as  do  other  circumstances,  especially  the  narcotic  and 
similar  actions  which  the  medicaments  temporarily  produce. 

1  Sperling  of  Berlin,  for  example,  achieved  surprisingly  marked  curative 
results  with  extremely  weak  currents  alone,  and  Julius  Heller  of  Lucerne,  on 
the  other  hand,  did  the  same  with  the  exclusive  use  of  very  powerful  currents 
and  extensive  contact  of  the  electrodes. 


270  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

What  should  one  deduce  from  these  facts?  That  these  cures 
possess  for  certain  some  common  cause,  that  they  are  induced 
by  a  common  mechanism,  which  can,  it  is  true,  be  stimulated  in 
totally  different  ways,  but  which  nevertheless  acts  in  the  same 
regular  way  in  inducing  the  cure.  The  matter  becomes  more 
apparent  when  one  remembers  that  the  same  remedy  often 
removes  entirely  opposite  symptoms,  such  as  convulsions  and 
paralyses,  anaesthesia  and  hypenesthesia,  etc.  The  same  cur- 
rents, the  same  cold-water  douches,  the  same  prayers,  the  same 
baths  (irrespective  of  whether  the  spring  contains  one  one- 
hundred  per  cent,  more  or  less  lithium),  often  act  equally 
well  or  badly  in  both  cases.  They  frequently  even  do  harm  if 
the  patient  autosuggests  this  to  himself,  which  is  by  no  means 
an  uncommon  occurrence. 

These  facts  show  quite  clearly  that  the  common  factor  in 
the  cure,  which  one  has  to  surmise  and  to  seek,  lies  in  the  body 
of  the  patient,  and,  further,  that  it  can  only  lie  in  his  nervous 
system.  No  other  tissue  of  the  body  is  capable  of  starting  such 
an  equable  machinery  by  so  many  means.  If  we  take  into 
consideration  the  part  played  by  the  belief  which  the  practi- 
tioner passes  on  to  the  patient,  it  becomes  apparent  that  all  these 
cures  are  produced  unconsciously  by  the  dynamic  action  of 
perceptions — i.e.,  by  suggestion.  One  must  admit,  after  care- 
fully considering  the  circumstances,  that  there  is  no  possibility 
of  a  direct  specific  action  of  these  remedies  taking  place  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  for  the  absolutely  incongruous  contradictions 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  confirmations  on  the  other  could  not 
be  reconciled  by  such  an  assumption.  The  matter  can  be  ex- 
plained simply  and  naturally  by  suggestion,  understood  in  the 
sense  in  which  I  have  hitherto  used  the  term. 

Bernheirn  has  expressed  his  opinion  repeatedly  and  unre- 
servedly on  the  suggestive  action  of  a  considerable  number  of 
medicaments  and  other  therapeutic  procedures.  This  was  done 
notably  in  1889  in  Paris,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Congress  on 
Hypnotism.  I  elucidated  the  train  of  thought  sketched  above 
before  the  meeting  of  German  scientists  in  Bremen  in  1890, 
in  discussion  against  Dr.  Klenke.  The  latter  openly  related 
his  own  contradictory  and  startling  results  with  electrothera- 


SUGGESTIVE    ELEMENTS   IN  THERAPEUTICS  271 

peutic  treatment,  and  tried  to  explain  the  action  as  being  due 
to  vasomotor  forces,  while  he  doubted  whether  there  was  any- 
specific  action  in  the  current  itself.  The  vasomotor  nerves, 
naturally  being  a  part  of  the  mechanism  subjected  to  the  con- 
trol of  our  cerebrum,  do  take  a  part  in  the  action.  However,  the 
action  of  suggested  currents,  in  conjunction  with  an  interrup- 
tion of  real  currents,  proves  that  the  regulation  emanates  from 
the  conception,  which  is  associated  with  the  local  interference. 

Dr.  Naegeli,  of  Ermatingen,  Canton  Thurgau,  Switzerland, 
has  discovered  a  new  curative  treatment — "  the  treatment  of 
neuralgias  and  neuroses  by  manipulations."  At  first  every  one 
laughed  at  this  new  method,  but  later  on  it  was  recognized  by 
the  scientific  medical  world,  especially  since  he  published  the 
method  in  an  illustrated  book  in  the  medical  press.  But  when 
Naegeli  terminated  his  explanatory  remarks  on  his  method 
before  the  Swiss  Central  Society  with  the  words,  "  Suggestion 
is  excluded,"  a  smile  stole  over  the  faces  of  every  one  present. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Naegeli's  head,  hand,  and  other  manipula- 
tions are  pure  forms  of  suggestion.  Instead  of  recognizing 
this,  an  attempt  was  made  to  carry  out  absurd  experiments  by 
means  of  which  the  matter  would  be  explained  by  mechanical 
vasomotor  processes. 

Brown-Sequard's  empiricisms  on  spermatotherapy  also  were 
admitted  into  scientific  medicine,  possibly  because  they  origi- 
nated from  a  scientist.  Naturally,  curative  results  were  ob- 
tained by  this  means,  for  a  powerful  suggestive  factor  must 
act  in  this  case.  One  hears  of  results  which  have  taken  place 
without  the  patient  knowing  anything  of  the  procedure,  but 
how  can  one  carry  out  an  injection  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  patient  ?  The  organotherapy  developed  in  response  to  a 
comparison  with  injections  of  other  substances.  According  to 
this  last-named,  the  physiological  action  of  an  organ  can  be 
more  or  less  transferred  to  the  body  by  the  eating  of  the  organ. 
Luckily,  one  does  not  hear  much  about  these  new  panaceas  now, 
although  there  certainly  seems  to  be  something  in  it  as  far  as 
the  thyroid  gland  is  concerned. 

Homoeopathy,  the  new-fangled  "  natural  methods,"  Kneipp's 
methods,  and  the  like,  owe  their  results  to  suggestion  in  con- 


272  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

nection  with  a  healthy  dietary.  Apart  from  this,  they  further 
owe  their  power  to  the  avoidance  of  a  haphazard  application  of 
active  remedies.  In  this  way  the  most  consummate  ignorance, 
the  most  idiotic  superstition,  often  in  conjunction  with  the 
most  contemptible  advertising  swindle,  may  succeed  in  com- 
peting successfully  with  sound  medical  science.  But  why  should 
one  damn  the  whole  treatment  by  suggestion,  even  if  the  sug- 
gestive action  of  our  drugs  and  methods  is  not  satisfactory? 
The  actual  justification  of  the  homo3opathic  method,  for  exam- 
ple, cannot,  of  course,  be  admitted  as  long  as  we  have  no  proof 
that  homoeopathically  diluted  drugs  act  by  themselves,  without 
the  assistance  of  the  credulity  of  the  patient. 

Should  we  go  to  the  other  extreme,  and  only  see  suggestive 
action  indiscriminately  in  everything?  Those  who  interpret 
us  like  this,  or  who  pretend  to,  either  do  not  or  will  not  under- 
stand us.  In  medicine  one  must  distinguish  serious  investiga- 
tion, clear  and  indisputable  facts,  and  also  those  facts  which  are 
explained  in  their  causal  connections  from  the  therapeutic 
drivel,  as  I  have  described  it  above.  The  laity  is  inclined  natu- 
rally to  confuse  things,  and  may  refuse  medical  science  on 
account  of  the  medical  shortcomings. 

One  comes  across  cases  and  methods  of  treatment  frequently 
enough  which  demonstrate  quite  clearly  that  when  one  compares 
the  results  of  alternating  exhibition  of  the  method  and  those 
of  pure  suggestion  carefully  and  without  bias  the  results  may 
be  referred  one  and  all  to  suggestion.  This  becomes  clearer 
the  longer  one  continues  these  observations.  The  experiment 
must  be  carried  out  without  the  patient  being  aware  of  it,  and 
should  be  tried  in  a  number  of  patients.  One  can  substitute 
an  absolutely  inert  drug  for  the  drug  which  one  is  testing,  but 
the  name  should  not  be  altered.  The  theories  of  specific  actions 
of  certain  drugs  can  also  be  disproved  by  removing  the  essential 
conditions  for  the  specific  action  without  letting  the  patient 
know  of  it.  One  obtains  just  as  good  results,  if  not  better  ones, 
in  this  way  if  one  carries  out  the  suggestions  skillfully  and 
intently.  But  one  may  not  have  a  personal  faith  in  the  drug 
one's  self.  Bernheim  is  undoubtedly  right  in  referring  the 
action  of  suspension  for  tabes  dorsalis,  the  results  of  metallo- 


COMBINED  ACTION  273 

therapy,  and  at  all  events  the  greater  part  of  the  results  of 
electrotherapy,  to  pure  suggestion.  I  would  add  to  these  the 
greater  part  of  balneotherapy  (the  supposed  specific  action  of 
certain  natural  springs),  of  hydrotherapy,  and  many  other  new 
and  old-fashioned  methods  of  treatment,  without  hesitation.  In 
these  the  whole  type  of  the  results  shows  clearly  that  they  belong 
under  the  same  heading. 

One  should  not  forget  that  the  suggestive  action  of  numerous 
methods  of  treatment  is  particularly  powerful,  and  the  results 
are  often  better  than  those  of  simple  verbal  suggestion  for  this 
reason.  To  wit,  the  mystic  nature  of  the  remedy  (electricity, 
metallotherapy),  the  peculiar  local  sensation  (electricity)  or 
pain  (blisters),  erotic  sensations  (Brown-Sequard's  spermato- 
therapy),  powerful  shock  (suspension,  cold  douches),  the  reli- 
gious belief  (laying  on  of  hands),  the  high  price  or  altered 
surroundings  and  the  improved  conditions  of  life  (treatment 
in  watering-places,  etc.).  One  is  not  justified  in  contending  that 
the  action  of  any  method  does  not  depend  on  suggestion  because 
the  method  succeeds  when  simple  hypnotizing  fails.  For  this 
reason  one  must  continue  to  use  these  methods,  and  to  continue 
them  with  verbal  suggestion. 

However,  the  mos4  instructive  cases  are  those  in  which  the 
suggestive  action  is  combined  with  an  ascertained  specific  action 
of  a  drug.  Bernheim  has  proved  conclusively  that  chloroform 
often  acts  suggestively,  especially  in  those  cases  in  which  the 
patient  falls  fast  asleep  after  having  scarcely  taken  a  couple 
of  breaths.  In  these  cases  one  can  calmly  sprinkle  something 
else  on  the  chloroform  mask  on  the  next  occasion;  the  anaes- 
thesia will  set  in  just  as  well.  Roth1  described  a  case  of  this 
kind.  One  can  observe  the  intermingling  of  suggestion  and 
the  action  of  the  drug  still  more  clearly  in  the  breaking  off  of 
the  morphine  habit.  The  patients  often  go  to  sleep  in  response 
to  an  injection  of  pure  water  at  the  end  of  the  treatment,  but 
cannot  sleep  without  an  injection.  We  are  not  going  to  dispute 
the  narcotic  actions  of  morphine  and  chloroform,  for  they  are 
absolutely  clear,  certain,  and  powerful.  The  following  may  be 
taken  to  represent  the  scientific  moral  of  the  story: 

1  Roth,  Correspondenzblatt  fur  Schweizer  Aerzte,  vol.  xix,  1,  p.  29,  1889. 


274  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Suggestion  insinuates  itself  insidiously  into  all  the  actions 
of  our  lives,  and  combines  with  the  therapeutic  attempts  of  all 
kinds  in  a  very  complicated  manner.  At  times  it  acts  by  acceler- 
ating and  at  times  by  inhibiting.  It  either  adds  to  or  subtracts 
from  the  action  of  the  drug.  But  in  a  large  number  of  cases 
it  actually  forms  the  only  therapeutic  agent.  Both  doctors  and 
patients  have  been  deceived  about  the  specific  action  of  numer- 
ous drugs  from  the  earliest  times,  and  the  scientific  develop- 
ment of  therapeutics  has  suffered  considerably  in  consequence. 
I  do  not  deny  that  the  more  "  enlightened  "  formerly  realized 
the  matter  more  or  less,  and  recognized  that  "  fancy  "  played 
an  important  part  in  cures.  Still,  the  most  enlightened  did  not 
have  the  faintest  idea  of  the  real  importance  of  suggestion,  of 
the  actual  objective  intensity  of  its  action,  and  of  its  identity 
with  the  phenomena  of  animal  magnetism,  which  they  them- 
selves felt  obliged  to  regard  as  mysterious.  Animal  magnetism 
used  to  be  called  cures  by  miracles  or  by  witchcraft. 

It  has  become  a  problem  of  the  investigations  in  therapeutics 
of  the  future  to  exclude  the  suggestive  element  carefully  and 
with  scientific  certainty  by  means  of  exact,  painstaking  experi- 
ments with  every  method  of  treatment  (medicinal,  externally 
or  otherwise  applied).  This  task  will  be  found  to  be  extremely 
difficult  and  delicate  in  many  cases.  In  any  case  I  warn  the 
reader  against  the  empty  and  impudent  presumptive  assertion 
printed  in  advertisements;  since  the  introduction  of  the  doc- 
trine of  suggestion  one  reads  at  the  end  of  the  praises  of  a 
large  number  of  vaunted  new  remedies,  "  Suggestion  is  ex- 
cluded." 

It  is  just  in  these  cases  that  a  purely  suggestive  action  is  most 
probable. 

A  serious  and  careful  valuation  of  suggestion  must  assist 
in  overthrowing  the  exuberant  and  corrupt  therapeutic  frauds 
of  the  present  day. 

What  right  have  we  to  object  to  the  homoeopaths,  the  herbal- 
ists, the  magnetizers,  the  persons  dealing  out  mystic  treatment 
or  treating  by  prayer,  or  to  their  practice  or  results,  which  really 
only  depend  on  suggestion  and  on  remedies  stolen  from  medi- 
cine, as  long  as  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  led  astray  so  disas- 


QUACKERY  AND  SUGGESTION  275 

trously  by  suggestion  ?  We  ought  to  first  clear  our  own  domains 
of  fraud  and  of  deception  by  sound  investigation;  we  should 
then  have  an  easy  task  with  these  gentlemen,  for  they  only 
gnaw  at  the  outside  of  science,  and  build  up  their  knowledge  out 
of  the  scraps  which  they  can  pull  off. 

There  are  further  two  points  of  view  which  are  very  damag- 
ing. Firstly,  there  is  the  fact  that  we  have  partly  to  approve 
of  the  views  of  those  persons  who  do  not  wish  to  have  anything 
more  to  do  with  the  whole  of  medicine  (surgery,  perhaps, 
excepted),  because  of  the  false  belief  in  an  enormous  number 
of  specific  actions  of  drugs  and  costly  or  exhausting  methods 
of  treatment,  which  really  act  wholly  or  partly  by  suggestion, 
and  often  do  more  harm  than  good.  These  persons  are  inclined 
to  return  to  a  natural  mode  of  life  with  outdoor  exercise,  hard- 
ening, avoidance  of  all  artificial  toxic  foods,  all  alcoholic  drinks, 
etc.  It  would  be  most  disheartening  if  medicine  were  to  allow 
priests  and  herbalists  to  claim  the  right  of  interceding  for  this 
first  principle  of  a  true  and  healthy  hygiene,  by  introducing 
propaganda  for  alcohol,  morphine,  brothels,  and  also  numerous 
dear  and  useless  medicaments,1  by  which  means  it  would  only 
favor  rather  than  hinder  the  development  of  hypochondriasis, 
nervousness,  and  degeneration  of  the  race.  Secondly,  medical 
practitioners  have  to  protect  themselves  against  suggestion  in 
(themselves — i.e.,  against  autosuggestion.  As  Bernheim  has 
told  us,  incredible  things  are  done  in  this  respect  in  medicine. 
This  fact  is  not  easily  differentiated  from  the  first  fact,  since 
the  practitioner  is  often  himself  suggested  by  means  of  the 
suggestive  action  in  the  patient.  But  in  this  case  I  would  wish 
to  deal  with  the  practitioners  who  are  intuitively  influenced  by 
their  muddled,  undigested,  phantastic  combinations  of  curative 
means  in  such  a  way  that  they  find  panacea  in  all  of  them; 
at  times  there  is  not  much  more  logic  in  this  than  there  is  in 
Gustav  Jager's  hair  pills  and  their  accompaniments.  It  is 
only  necessary  for  the  author  to  have  a  reputable  name,  or  to 
use  scientific  language  in  its  strict  sense,  or,  better  still,  if  both 
of  these  are  accomplished  facts. 

'Forel,  "The  Hygiene  of  the  Nerves  and  of  the  Mind."  (Stuttgart:  E. 
H.  Moritz,  1905.  2nd  edition.) 


276  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

These  very  people  are  the  ones  who  are  afraid  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  hypnotism,  and  assume  a  scornful  tone  be- 
cause the  matter  appears  to  them  to  be  unusual,  and  because 
they  consider  that  it  has  a  mysterious  and  fraudulent  reputa- 
tion. They  are  afraid  of  compromising  themselves.  They  are 
entirely  influenced  by  the  stuff  and  nonsense  clothed  in  scientific 
expressions  of  the  present  day;  it  would  be  almost  sacrilege  to 
investigate  the  matter  scientifically.  "  German  science  refuses 
to  accept  hypnotism  "  is  one  of  these  stereotype  phrases,  on  the 
strength  of  which  one  considers  one's  self  justified  in  backing  out 
of  a  real  scientific  investigation  of  the  question.  As  if  science 
could  be  called  German  or  French  or  English,  and  as  if  it  could 
judge  a  priori  in  an  adverse  or  favorable  light !  It  is  the  same 
old  story  of  the  "  petit  hypnotisme  de  Provence  "  of  the  Pari- 
sian school. 

With  the  best  intentions,  the  Minister  of  the  Ecclesiastical, 
Educational,  and  Medical  departments  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Prussia  issued  the  following  order  to  the  Berlin-Brandenburg 
Medical  Council  (Aerztekammer)  on  April  5,  1902 : 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  me  to  be  informed  as  to  the 
curative  value  of  hypnosis,  and  also  to  what  extent  and  with 
what  results  the  same  is  employed  by  doctors  in  the  treatment 
of  patients." 

As  soon  as  the  author  heard  of  this  he  took  the  liberty  of 
calling  his  Excellency  the  Minister's  attention  to  the  fact  that 
hypnotism  is  almost  entirely  excluded  from  the  syllabus  of  the 
medical  schools,  that  only  a  few  practitioners  have  taken  up 
this  study  of  their  own  initiative,  and  have  obtained  extremely 
satisfactory  results,  and  also  that  medical  students  are  not 
taught  psychology,  and  in  consequence  the  majority  of  practi- 
tioners, and  especially  the  teachers  in  the  schools,  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  whole  question.  It  was  therefore  to  be  expected 
that  his  question  would  receive  a  negative  reply — i.e.,  that  the 
committee  of  the  Medical  Council  would  express  itself  in  oppo- 
sition to  hypnosis  as  a  curative  method.  My  expectations  were 
naturally  fulfilled.  However,  neither  official  reports  nor  the 
vote  of  the  majority  can  decide  in  scientific  matters.  For  this 
reason  I  took  upon  myself  to  subject  the  Report  of  the  Hypnosis 


REPORT  OF  THE   HYPNOSIS  COMMISSION  277 

Commission  of  the  Berlin-Brandenburg  Medical  Council,  issued 
by  Messrs.  Mendel,  Gock,  D.  Munter,  and  Aschenborn,  to  a 
critical  survey  in  the  Munchener  Medicinische  Wochenschrift 
(No.  32)  in  1903.  Mr.  Mendel  is  well  known  as  an  aggressive 
opponent  of  treatment  by  suggestion,  although  he  has  obviously 
never  inquired  into  the  matter  himself.  I  am  unacquainted 
with  any  special  technical  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  other 
three  gentlemen. 

To  avoid  having  to  repeat  myself,  I  refer  the  reader  to  this 
article,  and  will  be  content  in  stating  briefly  that  the  Report  of 
the  Hypnosis  Commission  of  the  Berlin-Brandenburg  Medical 
Council  is  a  miserable  dogmatic  fabrication,  .which  carefully 
and  consistently  ignores  the  proofs  of  the  results  of  suggestive 
therapy,  which  have  been  most  conscientiously  reported  in  the 
medical  press.  It  exaggerates  unjustifiably  the  unimportant 
dangers  of  the  practice  of  it  by  lay  persons  or  by  unskilled  prac- 
titioners, and  at  the  same  time  does  not  mention  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  proved  to  be  absolutely  safe  when  practiced  by 
experienced  men. 

I  feel  that  I  have  said  enough  about  this.  Liebeault's  and 
Bernheim's  doctrine  of  suggestion  forms  a  deeply  rooted,  grad- 
ual reform  of  internal  medical  treatment,  is  indicative  of  a 
moral  elevation  of  medical  science  and  its  reputation,  and  wins 
a  signal  victory  over  the  mysteries  of  miraculous  cures  and 
secret  remedies.  Even  external  treatment  will  have  to  deduce 
its  doctrines  from  it,  and  will  have  to  be  careful  in  future  not 
to  remove  an  ovary  in  cases  in  which  the  trouble  can  be  cured 
by  suggestion,  or  to  interfere  with  the  caput  gallinaginis  in 
disturbances  which  are  psychically  produced,  but  in  which  the 
symptoms  are  referred  to  the  sexual  organs.  It  will  further 
have  to  avoid  destroying  the  hymen  in  girls  in  order  to  treat  the 
os  uteri,  when  the  disease  is  situated  in  the  head,  or  to  tan 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach  or  intestine  in  vain  by 
all  sorts  of  remedies  in  the  attempt  to  cure  non-existent  gastritis 
or  enteritis,  or  even  constipation,  when  a  few  suggestions  can 
often  remove  the  innervation  dyspepsia,  which  is  really  responsi- 
ble for  the  symptoms.  One  might  go  on  giving  examples  of 
this  kind  almost  indefinitely. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  FORENSIC  ASPECT  OF  SUGGESTION 

VON  LiLiENTHAL1  published  an  excellent  resume  of  the  results 
of  hypnotism  in  its  relations  to  law.  This  essay  has  been  com- 
posed from  the  lawyer's  point  of  view,  and  illustrates  the  ques- 
tion very  lucidly.  Von  Lilienthal  comes  to  the  conclusion  that 
law,  as  it  stands  at  present,  contains  sufficient  provisions  for  the 
protection  of  society  against  the  dangers  of  hypnotism.  Rieger 
and  other  authors  who  reject  or  ignore  hypnotism  a  priori 
and  without  any  technical  knowledge  of  it  do  not  deserve  to  be 
listened  to,  since  their  absolutely  unscientific  standpoint  has 
been  overruled  in  every  quarter. 

Hoefelt2  has  also  published  a  valuable  and  interesting  study 
on  this  subject. 

In  the  following  I  will  attempt  to  avoid  encroaching  on  the 
province  of  the  lawyer,  and  will  only  emphasize  the  facts  which, 
according  to  my  experience  and  also  to  the  experience  of  others, 
appear  to  be  of  importance  to  jurisprudence. 

I  must  refer  here  to  a  bulky  work  by  Liegeois,  "  De  la  sug- 
gestion et  du  somnarnbulisme,  dans  leurs  rapports  avec  la  juris- 
prudence et  la  medicine  legale,  1888."  I  certainly  agree  with 
von  Lilienthal  that  the  matter  is  not  so  dangerous  in  reality  as 
Liegeois  tries  to  make  out.  But  I  also  must  partly  agree  with 
Liegeois  in  his  criticism  of  Delbceuf,  who  has  completely  mis- 
understood the  earnestness  and  legal  importance  of  suggestion. 

First  of  all,  one  must  mention  the  interesting  fact  that  the 
disposition  of  certain  persons,  which  has  been  observed  and 
recognized  from  the  earliest  times,  of  allowing  themselves  to 
be  very  easily,  and  one  might  say  instinctively  and  uncon- 

1  Von  Lilienthal,  "Hypnotism  and  its  Relation  to  Jurisprudence"  (in  the 
Journal  of  Collective  Legal  Science). 

2 Hoefelt,  "Hypnotism  in  its  Relation  to  Jurisprudence."  (Leiden:  S.  C. 
van  Doesburgh,  1889.) 

278 


PERSONAL  INFLUENCE  279 

sciously,  influenced  by  others  without  recourse  to  hypnotic  pro- 
cedure is  based  on  suggestion.  This  disposition  is  very  highly 
developed  in  certain  persons,  in  men  as  well  as  in  women.  They 
simply  cannot  resist  the  suggestion,  the  influence  of  those  who 
take  an  interest  in  them,  and  in  consequence  become  the  play- 
things of  other  people,  and  are  mostly  misused.  One  frequently 
speaks  of  them  as  being  weak-minded.  But  they  are  often  very 
intelligent  and  industrious,  and  are  by  no  means  always  weak 
in  controlling  their  passions.  They  may  even  show  great  devo- 
tion, energy,  and  perseverance,  but  they  are  incapable  of  resist- 
ing the  suggestions  of  certain  other  persons.  The  most  glaring 
facts  are  not  sufficient  to  bring  them  to  their  senses,  or  are  inca- 
pable of  removing  them  from  the  influence  of  those  persons  who 
have  once  gained  the  mastery  over  them.  These  persons  need 
not  by  any  means  be  their  mental  superiors.  A  book,  even  a 
thought,  can  influence  them  in  a  similar  way. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  meet  with  people  who  know  how  to 
subject  others  irresistibly  to  their  influence.  These  are  great 
natural  hypnotists.  They  often  abuse  their  gift  if  they  are 
unscrupulous.  An  historical  example  of  this  kind  is  met  with  in 
the  person  of  Napoleon  I.  One  frequently  hears  it  stated  that 
the  results  alone  create  this.  But  that  is  not  correct.  In  a  small 
way  one  can  often  observe  persons  who  fail  frequently  because 
they  lack  a  clear  perception,  but  who,  nevertheless,  act  on  many 
other  persons,  as  if  by  "  magnetism,"  especially  on  women,  and 
lead  to  the  ruin  of  a  large  number  of  them.  The  victims  not 
infrequently  explain  later  on  that  they  simply  could  not  resist 
the  influence  of  the  person  in  question,  and  had  felt  an  intoxicat- 
ing sort  of  mental  compulsion.  Such  cases  undoubtedly  occur 
not  only  in  connection  with  "  love,"  but  also  without  any  con- 
nection' with  sexual  matters. 

These  facts  are  absolutely  identical  with  suggestion  in  wak- 
ing condition.  It  becomes  a  matter  for  the  lawyers  to  determine 
whether  or  not  the  psychological  relationship  to  the  mentally 
dependent,  will-less  condition  can  be  utilized  in  the  future  in 
forensic  practice.1 

1  This  paragraph  in  the  second  edition  of  my  book  appears  not  to  have  been 
taken  into  consideration  in  the  celebrated  Czynski  trial. 


280  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

In  passing  on  to  hypnotism  in  its  stricter  sense,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  point  out,  as  von  Lilienthal  has  done,  that  the  hypno- 
tized person  may  be  the  object  of  a  crime,  or  may  commit  a 
crime.  I  am  intentionally  not  quoting  from  the  literature, 
as  I  wish  to  avoid  repeating  what  von  Lilienthal  has  said  in  his 
essay.  I  propose  to  deal  chiefly  with  the  range  of  suggestion 
here. 

I  am  convinced  that  every  conceivable  crime  may  be  com- 
mitted on  a  hypnotized  person,  provided  that  a  higher  degree 
of  hypnosis  is  attained.  We  have  seen,  further,  that  one  should 
not  lay  too  much  stress  on  the  not-willing  on  the  part  of  the 
hypnotized,  since  there  are  innumerable  grades  of  this.  But 
a  general  knowledge  of  hypnotism  will  familiarize  the  public 
with  its  dangers,  and  thus  put  it  on  its  guard.  Apart  from  this, 
the  precautionary  measures  recommended  by  Bernheim  and 
Beaunis,  of  insisting  on  the  presence  of  an  authorized  witness 
during  the  hypnotizing,  and  of  obtaining  the  permission  for  the 
proposed  suggestion  beforehand,  have  been  mentioned  by  von 
Lilienthal.  It  will  be  very  difficult,  however,  to  carry  out  the 
second  point,  and  it  is  the  French  authors  especially  who  have 
sinned  most  in  this  respect. 

A  further  protection,  which  is  at  the  same  time  the  most 
important,  is  found  in  the  hypnotized  himself.  However 
tempting  and  easy  a  crime  on  the  hypnotized  person  may  be, 
the  results  of  this  for  the  hypnotist  are  extremely  dangerous, 
for  the  whole  structure  on  which  he  would  build  up  his  security 
is  a  fragile  one,  which  can  very  easily  be  blown  over.  The 
hypnotized  person  sometimes  awakens  at  a  time  when  one  least 
expects  it.  At  times  one  thinks  that  he  is  amnesic,  and  yet  the 
recollection  of  it  all  suddenly  returns  to  him,  by  means  of  some 
autosuggestion  or  other.  The  subject  can  mostly  be  hypnotized 
by  another  person,  and  a  complete  detailed  remembrance  of  what 
has  happened  may  be  restored  to  him  in  a  later  hypnotic  sleep. 
All  the  impressions  which  his  brain  received  during  the  hypnosis 
are  preserved  in  it.  They  are  merely  prevented  from  being 
conceived  by  an  inhibitory  command,  and  this  command  can  be 
easily  overruled.  I  believe  that  the  instinctive  feeling  of  these 
facts  on  the  part  of  hypnotists  is  to  a  great  extent  responsible 


CRIMES   ON   THE   HYPNOTIZED  281 

for  the  fact  that  so  few  crimes  have  hitherto  been  committed 
on  hypnotized  persons. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  all  these  safeguards  of 
hypnotism  are  almost  completely  lost  for  certain  "  better  som- 
nambulists," especially  for  certain  hysterical  persons,  who  are 
so  completely  and  deeply  affected  by  suggestion  that  one  could 
misuse  them  in  any  way  with  comparative  safety.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  say  what  percentage  of  people  belong  to  this  category, 
for  one  cannot  judge  a  number  of  persons  whom  one  only 
hypnotizes  once  or  twice.  As  we  have  seen,  a  person,  who  for 
a  time  does  not  appear  to  be  hypnotizable,  or  only  appears  to 
be  slightly  hypnotizable,  can  suddenly  become  a  perfect  som- 
nambulist if  one  ascertains  the  proper  access  to  his  individual 
suggestibility.  The  figures  which  have  been  accepted  up  to 
the  present  by  the  Nancy  school  of  fifteen  to  twenty  somnam- 
bulists per  one  hundred  persons,  and  about  fifty  per  one  hundred 
children,  will  probably  be  found  to  be  capable  of  considerable 
increase  if  sufficient  practice  and  a  deeper  study  into  the  nature 
of  suggestion  be  employed  (see  0.  Vogt's  results).  However, 
there  are  many  grades  of  somnambulism,  and  one  must  not 
deduce  from  these  figures  that  it  would  be  easy  to  commit  a 
crime  undetected  on  every  somnambulist.  Liegeois  has  an 
erroneous  conception  of  suggestion  when  he  states  that  som- 
nambulists are  necessarily  automatons,  and  I  wish  to  point 
out  here  that  Bernheim  has  never  agreed  with  him  in  these 
exaggerations. 

Von  Lilienthal  considers  that  one  can  draw  a  distinction 
between  the  lethargic  and  the  somnambulic  condition  in  law. 
The  lethargic  person  alone  is  regarded  as  unconscious  legally, 
probably  in  response  to  Charcot's  statements.  The  somnam- 
bulist, with  his  power  of  speech  and  open  eyes,  is,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  just  as  incapable  of  resistance  'as  is  the  lethargical  per- 
son who  is  only  apparently  unconscious.  I  refer  to  what  I 
have  already  said  on  this  subject.  I  must,  of  course,  except 
deep  pathological  lethargy,  which  does  not  belong  to  hypnotism, 
but  rather  to  the  category  of  hystero-epileptic  and  epileptic 
attacks,  and  which  cannot  be  transformed  into  somnambulism 
at  will,  like  Charcot's  form  of  lethargy. 


282  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

The  most  common  crime  is  that  of  a  sexual  nature,  and  up 
to  the  present  this  is  the  only  one  which  has  been  dealt  with 
in  the  literature.  This  consists  simply  in  the  abuse  of  a  deep 
hypnosis,  for  the  purpose  of  the  performance  of  sexual  inter- 
course by  the  hypnotist,  who  is  satisfied  that  his  victim  will  not 
awake,  and  that  she  will  remain  amnesic.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  this  is  possible  with  certain  very  good  somnambulists — i.e., 
with  those  hypnotized  persons  in  a  condition  of  deep  sleep  who 
can  be  rendered  anaesthetic,  and  who  remain  amnesic.  If  one 
considers  that  I  was  able  to  put  nineteen  out  of  twenty-three 
female  attendants  to  sleep  with  amnesia  and  anaesthesia,  one 
will  realize  the  danger  easily.  But  one  must  not  forget  the 
danger  of  being  found  out  later  on.  However,  the  danger  is 
very  great  when  one  thinks  that  the  two  chains  (superconceived 
and  hypoconceived)  act  in  the  same  brain,  and  that  the  tempter 
will  achieve  his  aims  more  surely  and  more  cleverly  during 
waking  suggestion.-  This  cannot  be  so  easily  followed  up  by 
criminal  law  (cf.  the  Czynski  trial).  It  is  self-evident  that 
murder,  theft,  and  the  like  could  easily  be  committed  on  such 
defenseless  persons.  They  are,  for  all  intents  and  purposes, 
in  the  same  condition  for  the  moment  as  if  they  were  drugged, 
or  deeply  idiotic,  or  even  apparently  dead.  For  this  purpose, 
however,  it  is  necessary  that  the  criminal  has  not  previously 
awakened  the  mistrust  of  his  victim  for  a  single  instant,  for 
otherwise  this  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  desuggest  him.  But 
after  all  is  said  and  done,  the  advantage  for  the  criminal  is 
not  very  great  over  the  more  usual  attacking  an  unsuspecting 
and  defenseless  person. 

The  abuse  of  posthypnotic  actions  of  suggestion  appears  to 
be  more  complicated.  One  might  wait  until  such  a  case  is 
subjected  to  legal  judgment.  However,  I  am  of  opinion  that 
it  would  be  wiser  to  form  a  clear  idea  on  the  subject  at  once. 

I  have  shown  that  these  phenomena  vary  considerably,  accord- 
ing to  the  personality.  The  varying  individual  ethical  or 
aesthetic  reaction  of  a  normal  person  to  unethical  or  unaesthetic 
posthypnotic  suggestions  is  very  interesting. 

If  I  say  to  a  hypnotized  person,  "  After  you  awaken  you 
will  drink  some  water  out  of  this  glass,"  this  suggestion  is  car- 
ried out  without  any  hesitation.  If  I  add  to  this,  "  You  will 


ABUSE   OF   POSTHYPNOTIC   ACTIONS  283 

also  place  this  chair  on  the  table,"  some  persons  will  be  puzzled, 
will  look  at  the  chair,  be  ashamed,  laugh,  and  in  the  end  some 
of  them  will  not  carry  out  this  second  suggestion,  because  they 
consider  it  too  stupid,  too  simple.  If  one  asks  them  what  they 
are  thinking  about,  they  answer/  "  I  got  the  stupid  idea  of 
placing  this  chair  on  the  table."  This  thought  can  follow  the 
hypnotized  person  for  a  long  time,  like  a  kind  of  impulsion, 
if  he  has  failed  to  carry  out  the  suggestion.  But  this  is  not 
always  the  case.  The  idea  is  often  soon  lost,  and  then  the  mat- 
ter is  ended.  If  I  say  to  a  still  more  suggestible  hypnotized 
person  who  has  placed  the  chair  on  the  table,  "  After  awakening, 
you  will  give  Mr.  X.  a  kiss,"  or,  "  You  will  upset  this  inkpot 
over  your  hand,"  or  "  You  will  put  my  knife,  which  is  lying 
on  the  table,  into  your  pocket ;  I  will  not  notice  it.  This  will  no 
doubt  be  a  small  theft,  but  that  does  not  matter,"  the  result  will 
be  different.  A  violent  struggle  between  the  impulse  of  the 
suggestion,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  associated  aesthetic  or  ethi- 
cal opposing  conceptions  of  the  normal  individuality — i.e.,  of 
the  inherited  and  acquired  (educational)  brain  dynamisms — 
on  the  other  hand,  will  take  place.  This  struggle  increases  in 
proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  opposing  conceptions  and  to 
the  development  of  the  suggestibility.  The  stronger  the  antag- 
onistic forces  are  developed,  the  more  violent  the  struggle  will 
be.  The  upshot  of  it  will  depend  on  the  momentary  intensity 
as  well  as  the  durableness  of  each  of  the  forces.  One  must 
therefore  take  each  of  the  component  parts  into  account  which 
make  up  each  of  the  antagonistic  forces.  These  may  be  tabu- 
lated as  follows: 

1.  The  degree  of  the  individual  suggestibility. 

2.  The  lasting  power  of  the  action  of  the  suggestion  in  the 
brain  of  the  hypnotized. 

3.  The  strength  of  the  hypnotic  education  or  training. 

4.  The  depth  of  the  sleep  (which  diminishes  the  power  of 
resistance  of  the  normal  mind  by  dissociation,  and  is  of  special 
importance  in  the  activity  during  the  hypnosis  itself) . 

5.  The  adequate  nature  of  the  suggestion — i.e.,  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  desired  action  skillfully  and  powerfully  suggested, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  psychical  action  of  the  hypnotist. 

6.  The  normal  individuality  of  the   hypnotized — i.e.,  the 


284  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

standard  and  kind  of  his  ethical  and  aesthetic  disposition,  his 
power  of  will,  his  education,  etc. 

7.  The  momentary  psychical  condition  of  the  hypnotized,  etc. 

The  sixth  item  is  very  important.  A  person  who  does  not 
possess  a  sensitive  conscience  will,  ceteris  paribus,  carry  out  a 
criminal  suggestion  more  readily  than  a  person  possessed  of  a 
well-developed  conscience.  A  cunning  person  will  not  be  so 
inclined  to  carry  out  a  criminal  suggestion  in  which  he  gains 
no  advantage  as  soon  as  he  "  smells  a  rat." 

Item  4  holds  good  also  for  posthypnotic  conditions,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  provided  that  these  possess  more  or  less 
the  characters  of  a  renewed  hypnosis.  The  more  completely 
awake  the  hypnotized  person  is,  the  more  readily  will  he  be 
able  to  protect  himself  against  a  suggestion.  But  one  can  sug- 
gest to  him  that  he  will  go  to  sleep  again  posthypnotically. 

It  can  readily  be  understood  how  complicated  the  problem 
is.  The  question  is,  "  How  far  can  one  go  ?  " 

I  have  pointed  out  that  even  during  the  deep  hypnotic  sleep 
a  struggle  between  the  suggestion  and  the  individuality  of 
the  hypnotized  can  take  place.  Not  every  suggestion  is  accepted. 
This  has  been  clearly  pointed  out  by  Bernheim.  But  even  when 
a  criminal  suggestion  has  been  accepted,  it  usually  leaves  traces 
of  deep  associated  emotions  behind. 

In  the  presence  of  the  Zurich  Law  Society  I  put  a  seventy- 
year-old  man  to  sleep  in  an  empty  room,  and  said  to  him: 
"  Look  there,  B. ;  that  man  standing  close  to  us  is  a  wicked 
wretch,  an  unmitigated  rascal.  Let  us  do  for  him;  here  is  a 
knife."  (I  handed  him  a  piece  of  chalk.)  "  He  is  standing 
immediately  in  front  of  you ;  stab  him  in  the  abdomen."  Evi- 
dencing great  excitement,  trembling,  and  with  drawn  features, 
he  seized  the  chalk  convulsively  in  his  right  hand,  suddenly  got 
up,  and  plunged  the  knife  (chalk)  with  great  force  twice  into 
the  air.  He  continued  to  be  excited  during  the  hypnosis,  and 
did  not  return  the  chalk  to  me,  but  put  it  into  his  pocket.  It 
took  me  several  minutes  to  quiet  him  by  suggestion.  When 
I  awoke  him  he  was  still  sweating  and  excited.  He  could  not 
remember  what  he  had  been  doing,  but  said  that  "  something 
wrong  must  have  taken  place." 


FORENSIC   DANGERS  285 

Bernheim,  Liegeois,  and  other  French  authors,  have  related 
some  exceedingly  interesting  cases  of  criminal  suggestions,  some 
of  which  were  carried  out  quietly,  without  emotion.  These 
included  imitation  murders,  suggested  real  thefts,  etc. 

For  the  purpose  of  assisting  Mr.  Hoefelt,  a  young  lawyer, 
who  was  writing  his  thesis  on  this  subject,  I  carried  out  two 
experiments  of  this  kind.  I  gave  an  elderly,  very  suggestible 
man  a  revolver,  after  having  hypnotized  him ;  Mr.  Hoefelt  had 
previously  loaded  it  with  blank  cartridges.  I  told  the  subject 
that  Mr.  Hoefelt  was  a  very  bad  person,  and  that  he  was  to  shoot 
him.  He  took  up  the  revolver  with  great  determination,  and 
fired  a  shot  straight  at  the  lawyer.  The  latter,  pretending  to 
be  wounded,  fell  down.  I  told  the  hypnotized  that  the  fellow 
was  not  quite  dead:  he  must  fire  another  shot  at  him.  This 
was  done  without  hesitation.  Professor  Delboeuf  might  answer 
me  that  the  hypnotized  had  known  from  the  first  that  I  would 
not  order  him  to  commit  a  real  crime.  I  admit  this.  But  he 
ought  to  allow  that  the  man  must  have  had  a  very  extraordinary, 
almost  incredible  presence  of  mind  and  a  limitless  confidence 
in  me  were  this  so;  for,  firstly,  I  had  never  carried  out  such 
an  experiment  before ;  and,  secondly,  the  loading  of  the  revolver 
with  blank  cartridge  (of  which  he  had  no  idea),  and  the  very 
loud  report  which  the  firing  caused  in  the  closed  room,  as  well 
as  the  excellently  acted  fall  by  Mr.  Hoefelt,  would  have  dis- 
turbed the  balance  of  the  best  malingerer,  at  all  events  for  an 
instant,  and  have  awakened  him;  but  this  was  not  the  case. 
The  second  shot  was  fired  as  deliberately  as  the  first. 

A  modest  (elderly  and  ugly)  servant-girl,  whom  I  had  known 
for  many  years  to  be  extraordinarily  prudish,  energetically 
resisting  the  most  ordinary  medical  examinations — e.g.,  that  of 
the  breast — and  getting  excited  about  it,  was  at  the  same  time 
a  highly  suggestible  somnambulist.  At  that  time,  however, 
she  was  not  under  the  slightest  obligation  to  me,  nor  had  she 
any  reason  to  hope  for  an  engagement  from  me.  I  advised 
Mr.  Hoefelt  to  look  her  up,  and  to  obtain  her  sanction  to  allow 
me  to  hypnotize  her  in  his  presence.  She  consented  to  this. 
I  then  gave  her  the  suggestion  during  the  hypnosis  to  strip 
completely  to  the  waist  in  the  presence  of  this  strange  gentle- 


286  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

man  and  myself.  She  carried  this  out  immediately,  without 
hesitation,  and  without  exhibiting  the  least  emotion.  I  own 
that  I  was  astounded  at  it.  If  I  had  not  been  absolutely  certain 
of  her  complete  amnesia,  I  would  never  have  dared  to  have 
performed  this  experiment,  for  she  would  have  despaired  had 
she  known.  I  only  carried  it  out  with  considerable  disinclina- 
tion, and  only  in  the  interest  of  science,  for  this  kind  of  experi- 
ment borders  on  the  illegal.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  something 
has  to  be  done  to  illuminate  the  matter.  Professor  Delboeuf 
would  say  to  me  that  hundreds  of  girls  do  this  during  full  con- 
sciousness. But  this  is  only  true  of  a  certain  category  of  girls. 
In  this  case  I  knew  the  girl,  her  straight,  modest  character, 
well  for  many  years,  or  else  I  would  not  have  laid  any  stress 
on  the  experiment.  Much  less  was  proved  in  the  case  of  another 
hypnotized,  whom  I  caused  to  box  Mr.  Hoefelt's  ears  soundly 
(J.  A.  Hoefelt,  loc.  cit.}. 

One  must  agree  with  Delboeuf  that  Liegeois  has  exaggerated 
the  forensic  dangers  of  suggestion  greatly,  and  the  facts — i.e., 
the  small  number  of  actually  proved  crimes  induced  by  hypno- 
tism (suggestion) — seem  to  bear  him  out  in  this.  But  Delboeuf 
generalizes  a  great  deal  too  much  in  his  negations.  He  admits 
that  he  does  not  render  his  somnambulists  amnesic,  and  does  not 
suggest  a  deep  sleep  to  them.  Now,  this  is  a  matter  of  taste, 
but  he  gives  all  these  persons  the  suggestion  of  a  light  sleep, 
and  neglects  the  experiments  of  deep  sleep  with  amnesia  and 
anaesthesia.  There  is  no  doubt  that  a  large  number  of  somnam- 
bulists are  so  enormously  suggestible  that  they  can  be  rendered 
almost  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  suggestions  of  the  hypno- 
tist. These  persons  are  the  dangerous  instruments  for  the 
carrying  out  of  crimes,  and  also  may  become  the  easiest  victims 
of  the  same.  For  this  reason  they  need  not  be  necessarily  bad 
or  weak-minded  persons ;  they  are  frequently  weak  in  this  one 
respect  only.  I  am  acquainted  with  some  of  them  who  are 
even  quite  good  characters.  The  fact  that  such  persons  have 
in  former  times  been  misused  by  cunning  criminals  for  their 
own  purposes,  even  without  hypnosis,  has  been  made  use  of  by 
Delboeuf  somewhat  narrowly.  Delboeuf  recognizes  that  a  full 
hypnosis  is  not  necessary  for  suggestive  influencing.  Conse- 


THE   BOMPARD   CASE  287 

quently,  he  ought  not  to  reproach  the  Nancy  school  for  having 
erroneously  ascribed  these  cases  to  suggestion,  but  he  ought  to 
blame  those  former  judgments  which  did  not  realize  that  sug- 
gestion was  playing  a  part.  Liegeois,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
mistaken,  according  to  the  views  of  all  level-minded  specialists, 
in  imagining  that  in  the  celebrated  murder  committed  by 
Gabriele  Bompard  this  morally  defective  person  had  told  the 
truth  about  the  circumstances  of  the  murder  during  the  hypno- 
sis. Delboeuf  is  quite  justified  in  opposing  him  in  this  particular. 
Although  she  has  never  stated  it,  it  is  quite  possible,  and  not 
improbable,  that,  as  she  was  so  very  easily  influenced,  Bompard 
acted  in  obedience  to  Eyraud. 

The  matter  assumes  quite  another  appearance  if  one  places 
one's  self  in  the  position  of  the  judge,  and  regards  Bompard  as 
an  undoubtedly  ethically  defective,  hysterical  subject.  This 
was,  in  all  probability,  true.  The  absurdity  of  the  legal  logic 
lies  in  sentencing  such  a  person.  I  have  repeatedly  tried  to 
express  myself  in  this  direction.1  Delbosuf  expresses  himself 
in  favor  of  a  sentence,2  "  because  Society  has  only  to  protect 
herself,  and  not  to  punish  a  crime  or  improve  the  criminal ;  and 
because  people  like  Bompard  are  dangerous,  and  it  is  especially 
dangerous  to  encourage  this  class  by  leniency  or  by  acquitting 
the  prisoner."  But  in  this  the  fine  old  logician  and  investi- 
gator has  made  an  error  which  I  cannot  allow  to  pass.  For, 
following  out  his  reasoning,  one  ought  to  punish  all  dangerous 
lunatics  for  the  same  reasons.  I  agree  with  him,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  punishment,  but  only  in  the  opposite  sense.  One 
should  render  all  criminals  harmless,  just  as  one  does  lunatics 
(Society  is  undoubtedly  bound  in  duty  to  do  so),  but  one  ought 
not  to  inflict  the  odium  of  criminal  sentences  on  irresponsible 
brains  with  such  an  amount  of  pomp.3  I  am  convinced  of  the 
fact  that  a  good  somnambulist  may  commit  serious  crimes  dur- 
ing hypnotic  sleep  in  response  to  suggestion,  and  that,  under 
certain  circumstances,  he  may  not  know  anything  about  it 
later  on. 

1  Forel,  Journal  of  Swiss  Jurisprudence,  2nd  year,  vol.  i.,  1889;   and  Cor- 
responding Journal  for  Swiss  Practitioners,  1890,  etc. 

2  Delboeuf,  Hypnotic  Review,  January,  1891. 

3  Vide  also  Delboeuf,  "The  Pathological  Lie"  and  the  "Textbook  on  Foren- 
sic Psychopathology." 


288  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

The  best  proof  that  a  good  somnambulist  believes  that  he  has 
intentionally  carried  out  those  acts  which  he  has  committed 
posthypnotically  is  to  be  found  in  the  way  in  which  he  is 
ashamed  of  them,  and  in  which  he  shows  his  embarrassment 
and  tries  to  conceal  the  act.  I  induced  a  hypnotized  person 
who  was  ethically  rather  weakly  developed  to  steal  a  knife  lying 
on  the  table  posthypnotically.  As  soon  as  she  left  the  room  she 
went  to  my  cook  and  told  her  with  some  embarrassment  that  she 
had  taken  the  knife  with  her  by  mistake ;  she  did  not  know  how 
she  came  to  do  it,  and  requested  the  cook  to  replace  the  knife 
without  saying  anything  to  me,  as  "  she  felt  very  awkward 
about  it." 

One  of  the  most  insidious  tricks  of  suggestion  might  be  met 
with  in  the  employment  of  suggestion  as  to  time  (Termineingeb- 
tmgr),  which  is  always  possible,  together  with  the  suggestion 
of  amnesia  and  of  resolution  of  free-will,  in  order  to  cause  a 
person  to  carry  out  an  act  to  serve  a  selfish  purpose  or  to  com- 
mit a  criminal  deed. 

In  former  times  one  often  noticed  that  the  hypnotized  were 
afraid  of  the  hypnotist,  and  that  they  concealed  themselves  from 
him,  as  they  would  from  an  "  evil  spirit."  This  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  "  magnetizers  "  of  that  time  did  not  understand 
their  own  art  in  its  psychological  sense,  and  induced  the  hypno- 
sis with  all  sorts  of  humbug  having  the  appearance  of  mystery. 
Hypnosis  is  achieved  by  Liebeault's  method  with  the  assistance 
of  comforting,  quieting,  natural,  and  friendly  words.  The 
hypnotist  does  not  now  appear  like  a  Mephistopheles  with  his 
apparition;  he  gives  the  impression  of  being  a  helpful  doctor, 
or,  at  least,  of  being  a  trustworthy  man  of  science,  who  applies 
natural  and  not  supernatural  remedies.  Apart  from  this,  he 
has  it  in  his  power  to  make  the  hypnosis  beloved  and  desired 
by  the  hypnotized  by  means  of  suggestion.  He  can  suggest  to 
them  the  feeling  of  being  well,  good  spirits,  good  sleep,  appe- 
tite, etc.  The  fact  that  persons  hypnotized  in  this  way  for 
the  most  part  gladly  come  again,  and  regard  the  hypnotist  as 
their  friend,  can  be  explained  by  this.  And  in  this  fact  lies  the 
greatest  forensic  danger  of  suggestion.  One  catches  flies  with 
honey,  and  not  with  vinegar.  It  is  true  that  it  is  not  a  recent 


FORENSIC   DIFFICULTIES  289 

development,  as  we  have  already  seen;  that  certain  siren-like 
persons  possess  the  gift  of  transforming  other  persons  into  their 
blind  tools,  for  their  own  egotistical  purposes.  But  undoubt- 
edly much  more  may  be  done  in  this  respect  in  the  future  with 
the  help  of  well-directed,  regular  suggestion. 

However,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  danger  of  the  hypnotized, 
who  pays  such  close  attention  to  the  hypnotist,  detecting  un- 
spoken intentions  of  the  latter,  and  of  thus  losing  his  suggesti- 
bility, is  so  great  for  the  hypnotist  that  it  swallows  up  every- 
thing else,  and  really  reduces  the  forensic  danger  of  hypnotism 
enormously. 

Besides,  the  newly  acquired  knowledge  brings  its  antidote 
with  it.  People  are  warned  by  it  of  the  danger  of  suggestion 
by  unscrupulous  persons.  The  judge  will  have  to  learn  to 
weigh  and  judge  the  psychological  import  of  the  whole  series 
of  facts.  Lastly,  a  highly  suggestible  person  can  acquire  a 
considerable,  if  not  a  complete,  protection  against  bad  sugges- 
tions by  allowing  himself  to  be  suggested  by  an  honest  practi- 
tioner in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  to  his  advantage.  This 
protection  can  be  attained  by  suggestions  of  power  of  will, 
self -protection  against  pernicious  influences,  etc.  One  must  tell 
the  hypnotized  (this  is  of  paramount  importance),  "  I  alone  can 
hypnotize  you ;  no  one  else  in  the  wide  world  can  do  it." 

Unfortunately,  a  criminal  can  employ  similar  means,  and 
say  to  the  hypnotized,  "  I  alone  can  put  you  to  sleep,  and  you 
will  not  know  that  you  have  been  hypnotized."  Liegeois,  it  is 
true,  has  demonstrated  (loc.  cit.},  with  the  help  of  experiments, 
which  he  carried  out  together  with  Bernheim  and  Liebeault, 
that  one  can  force  a  hypnotized  person  to  reveal  the  identity  of 
the  wrongdoer  indirectly,  by  means  of  suggestions  of  apparent 
safeguarding  the  rogue  who  has  cunningly  suggested  amnesia, 
personal  initiative,  etc.,  for  the  purpose  of  committing  a  sug- 
gested criminal  act.  However,  Liegeois  seems  to  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  one  must  be  able  to  hypnotize  the  somnam- 
bulist again,  and  that  the  wrongdoer  was  not  able  to  suggest 
successfully,  "  No  one  else  in  the  wide  world  can  hypnotize 
you  again." 

I  am  of  opinion,  in  common  with  Liegeois,  that  the  detection 


290  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

of  the  real  criminal  by  hypnotic  means  applied  to  the  somnam- 
bulist will  always  succeed  easily  in  the  hands  of  a  practiced 
hypnotist,  as  long  as  it  does  not  lie  in  the  interests  of  the  hyp- 
notized to  keep  silent  on  the  subject. 

But  the  possibility  of  a  crime  is  not  excluded  by  this.  The 
criminal  often  commits  his  crimes  without  sufficient  precaution ; 
and  yet  hypnotism  may  exercise  its  attraction  for  the  criminal, 
because  it  offers  a  certain  degree  of  safety  and  protection  for 
him  for  the  immediate  future.  And,  apart  from  this,  one  will 
not  always  think  of  hypnotism  in  connection  with  a  suggested, 
apparently  spontaneous  deed. 

The  Czynski  case,  in  which  a  hypnotizing  pathological  swin- 
dler (Czynski)  carried  out  a  sexual  assault  on  a  titled,  virtu- 
ous lady,  and  wanted  to  marry  her,  shows  how  difficult  it  is 
to  fix  a  definite  limit  to  the  possibilities.  He  had  first  hypno- 
tized her  for  the  treatment  of  some  condition,  then  tried  to 
excite  her  sympathy  for  him,  and  pretended  to  be  madly  in 
love  with  her  (probably  he  actually  felt  this  passion,  for  it  is 
not  uncommon  with  pathological  swindlers  of  this  type  to  have 
a  very  elastic  imagination).  Professor  Hirt  believes  that  sug- 
gestion can  be  excluded,  and  that  a  natural  love  existed;  Pro- 
fessor Grashey  accepts  hypnosis,  and  speaks  of  a  pathological 
love.  Doubtless  the  love  of  the  majority  of  psychopathic  per- 
sons like  the  Baroness  is,  to  some  extent,  pathological.  Dr. 
von  Schrenck  accepts  a  suggestion  influence,  and  is  certainly 
right.  There  is  no  doubt  that  a  powerful  suggestive  influence 
had  been  exercised.  But  this  takes  place  in  every  intense  pas- 
sion, as  Hirt  has  correctly  pointed  out.  As  I  have  repeatedly 
emphasized,  one  has  to  deal  with  the  sum  total  of  actions.  An 
excess  can  be  attained  with  the  assistance  of  a  skilled  hypnotic 
suggestion,  and  a  sexual  inclination  can  be  changed  into  an 
irresistible  resignation.  Who  can  weigh  these  imponderable 
things  ? 

A  further  danger  of  hypnosis  might  consist  in  the  production 
of  illnesses.  As  will  be  easily  understood,  no  experimental 
proofs  in  support  of  this  contention  are  available.  But  the 
matter  is,  nevertheless,  undoubtedly  possible,  and  even  easy. 
Hysterical  attacks  have  been  accidentally  produced  by  faulty 


SUGGESTION   OF   ILLNESS  291 

methods  in  hypnotizing.  Even  the  Nancy  method  can  produce 
unpleasant  results  in  the  unskilled  hands  of  a  novice,  as  we  have 
seen,  if  the  hypnotist  does  not  know  how  to  nip  the  autosug- 
gestions of  morbid  symptoms  in  the  bud  immediately  applying 
energetic  opposing  suggestions.  These  autosuggestions  mostly 
are  formed  in  the  first  hypnosis — e.g.,  trembling,  headache, 
and  the  like — and  my  experience  teaches  me  that  they  are 
always  curable.  Such-like  mishaps  can  generally,  if  not  always, 
be  remedied  by  an  experienced  person.  Liebeault,  and  also 
Bernheim  (at  a  later  date),  have  pointed  out  that  certain  very 
peculiar  phenomena,  certain  illnesses,  and  even  deaths,  which 
have  been  prophesied  by  the  individual  for  a  definite  date,  or 
which  have  been  prophesied  by  fortune-telling  for  him,  and 
which  took  place  at  the  exact  time,  may  depend  on  autosugges- 
tion or  suggestion.  A  person  who  has  a  hypochondriacal  incli- 
nation may  acquire  a  very  marked  loss  of  appetite,  dyspepsia, 
and  considerable  wasting  by  autosuggestion.  If  we  further 
consider  that  one  can  produce  or  prevent  such  a  process  as  the 
menstruation  of  women  at  will  by  means  of  suggestion  (I  have 
experimentally  postponed  the  menstruation  in  a  woman  for 
over  two  weeks),  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  one  can  produce 
illness  and  possibly  death  indirectly  (perhaps  even  directly) 
in  a  criminal  manner  by  suggestion.  If  it  were  possible  to  sug- 
gest a  cardiac  paralysis  or  oedema  of  the  glottis,  for  example,  the 
possibilities  of  a  direct  death  suggestion  would  be  present.  As 
we  have  seen,  suggestion  in  itself  is  not  attended  with  any 
disadvantages  either  of  an  hysterical  or  nervous  kind,  provided 
that  it  is  properly  carried  out  according  to  the  Nancy  method. 
And  even  if  it  should  produce  an  unpleasant  symptom,  such  as 
spontaneous  appearance  of  somnambulism,  a  contrary  sugges- 
tion is  all  that  is  necessary  to  remove  it.  I  have  never  observed 
a  harmful  result  in  any  of  the  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
tabulated  cases,  nor  in  the  persons  who  have  not  been  included 
in  the  statistics,  whom  I  have  subjected  to  hypnotism  (apart 
from  the  temporary  autosuggestions  of  headache,  etc.,  which 
appear  at  times  during  the  first  hypnosis,  and  which  can  be 
immediately  suggested  away).  But  if  suggestion  be  applied 
frivolously  and  exaggeratedly,  if  one  neglects  to  remove  the 


292  HYPNOTISM  AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

before-mentioned  autosuggestions  of  nervous  symptoms  at  once, 
from  want  of  thought  or  of  knowledge,  mild  neuroses,  at  all 
events  in  hysterical  subjects,  may  develop,  without  any  bad 
intention  on  the  part  of  the  hypnotist.  The  principal  danger 
of  hypnotizing  by  non-medical  persons  and  by  medical  men  who 
have  not  grasped  suggestion  lies  in  this  fact. 

A  sad  case  which  took  place  in  Hungary  in  1894  seems  to 
belong  to  this  category.  A  magnetizer,  believing  in  telepathy, 
who  had  not  been  medically  trained,  had  repeatedly  hypnotized 
a  girl  suffering  from  hysteria,  whose  general  health  was  very 
bad,  and  who  showed  severe  nervous  disturbances.  He  had 
succeeded  in  improving  her  considerably.  This  extremely  sug- 
gestible girl,  who  was  supposed  to  be  a  clairvoyante,  was  then 
hypnotized.  She  was  to  diagnose  the  disease  of  a  certain  man  at 
a  distance,  and  to  determine  the  condition  of  his  lung.  While 
in  the  condition  of  hypnosis,  obviously  picturing  a  diseased  lung 
to  herself,  she  began  to  speak  about  it,  and  then  suddenly  fell 
back  dead.  The  autopsy  only  revealed  anaemia  and  beginning 
oedema  of  the  brain,  which  does  not  offer  any  explanation  for 
the  death.  Could  the  terrifying  conception  of  a  diseased  lung, 
which  the  somnambulist  might  possibly  have  for  the  moment 
thought  was  her  own,  have  caused  her  death?  Was  it  acci- 
dental ?  I  believe,  with  Liebault  and  Bernheim,  that  the  former 
is  possible.  One  only  learned  of  the  case  through  the  daily 
papers,  although  many  details  were  given.  Anyway,  the  case 
is  of  much  importance. 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  and  at  the  same  time  most 
important,  if  not  actually  the  most  important  forensic  aspect 
of  suggestion,  is  to  be  found  in  the  unconsciously  produced — 
i.e.,  suggested — falsification  of  memory  (hallucination  retro- 
active of  Bernheim)  by  a  counsel  when  cross-examining  the 
accused.  I  have  already  discussed  this  phenomenon.  Just  as 
one  can  wring  a  confession  out  of  a  child,  a  woman,  or  a  weak 
man,  of  a  suspicious  deed  by  the  power  of  skillful  persuasion, 
so  one  can  suddenly  produce  the  suggestion  in  an  innocent  per- 
son that  he  is  guilty.  When  this  takes  place,  not  only  a  complete 
confession  of  the  crime,  which  he  has  not  committed,  is  made, 
but  all  sorts  of  details  of  the  most  concrete  kind,  as  we  have 


SUGGESTED    CONFESSIONS  293 

seen,  are  also  hallucinated  retroactively.  It  is  just  these  details 
which  serve  best  to  show  that  one  is  dealing  with  a  suggested 
falsification  of  memory,  especially  when  they  do  not  coincide 
with  the  actual  facts  which  can  be  ascertained  about  the  deed. 
An  easy  and  very  commendable  control  of  experiment,  when 
one  is  suspicious  about  this,  consists  in  further  suggesting  to 
the  accused  details  which  one  is  quite  sure  cannot  possibly 
have  taken  place.  If  he  admits  them  as  well,  one  can  be  toler- 
ably certain  that  the  whole  confession  was  valueless — i.e.,  de- 
pended on  the  suggestion  of  the  barrister.  One  can  prevent 
horrible  legal  murders  in  this  way.  I  have  come  across  a  few 
such  cases,  and  am  convinced  that  they  are  at  times  erroneously 
mistaken  for  melancholia  by  asylum  doctors,  since  similar  false 
self-accusations  occur  in  melancholia.  We  have  also  seen  that 
certain  "  instinct  liars  "  are  only  persons  who  are  so  suggestible 
that  they  constantly  confuse  their  own  conceptions  and  those 
conveyed  to  them  by  others  with  reality. 

But  not  only  false  confessions,  but  also  false  witnesses,  may  be 
prepared  in  this  manner.  In  the  terrifying  procedures  which 
witnesses  frequently  are  subjected  to,  and  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  turned  and  twisted  by  the  barristers,  they  will 
certainly  often  be  induced  to  make  statements  which  depend 
on  suggestion.  Bernheim  and  I  are  at  one  in  this.  The  contra- 
dictions which  one  accuses  them  of  are  not  always  conscious 
lies :  they  are  not  seldom  the  results  of  suggestion.  It  is  espe- 
cially children  who  are  dangerous  in  this  respect,  and  the 
younger  they  are  the  more  marked  this  is. 

One  must  differentiate  two  classes  of  cases — (1)  the  case 
in  which  the  suggestion  calls  forth  its  effects  through  the  special 
action  on  the  part  of  the  inquisitor  in  a  person  who  is  otherwise 
inclined  to  speak  the  truth ;  and  ( 2 )  the  case  in  which  the  wit- 
ness has  always  confused  truth  and  imagination,  because  he  has 
never  been  able  to  do  otherwise. 

The  second  case  has  been  long  recognized  under  all  sorts  of 
names,  and  is  of  secondary  importance.  One  soon  recognizes 
the  type  of  such  witnesses  by  their  behavior  in  dealing  with 
other  things  as  well,  or  one  learns  of  it  by  their  reputation. 
They  are  regarded  as  habitual  liars,  and  no  weight  is  attached 


294  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

to  their  statements.  On  the  other  hand,  the  first  case  must 
exercise  the  mind  of  the  criminal  lawyer  greatly,  for  it  can 
occur  in  really  good  persons,  who  bear  evidence  in  all  other 
respects  in  accordance  with  the  truth,  and  have  only  arrived  at 
a  false  recollection  by  suggestion.  Of  course,  transition  forms 
frequently  occur  also  in  this  case. 

Is  a  hypnotized  person  to  be  regarded  under  all  circumstances 
as  irresponsible  ?  This  question  must  be  regarded  in  the  con- 
crete case  as  an  extremely  difficult,  almost  insoluble,  one,  after 
wThat  has  been  said.  As  nearly  all  authors,  including  von 
Lilienthal,  have  done,  one  must  naturally  regard  every  person 
whose  actions  are  completely  governed  by  the  influence  of  a 
suggestion  as  being  irresponsible  on  principle.  The  hypnotist 
is  responsible  for  his  actions,  for  he  has  made  use  of  them.  But 
how  are  we  going  to  carry  this  out  in  practice,  when  we  think  of 
the  frequency  of  unconscious  suggestions,  which  are  not  recog- 
nized as  such,  which  occur  all  over  the  world  without  tangible 
hypnosis  ?  Where  are  we  to  place  the  limits  of  responsibility 
in  the  concrete  case  in  the  finer  shades  of  waking  suggestion 
which  I  have  already  discussed?  Natura  non  facit  saltum. 
This  old  truth  is  applicable  in  this  case  also,  and  it  gives  the 
lie  direct  to  our  artificial  categories,  as  it  does  in  mental 
diseases. 

As  the  authors,  and  also  von  Lilienthal,  have  already  pointed 
out,  a  further  great  danger  of  suggestion  lies  in  the  employment 
of  the  same  by  the  hypnotized  person  for  the  purpose  of  extor- 
tions of  all  kinds.  This  danger  is  so  great  that  the  presence 
of  witnesses  is  more  necessary  in  the  interest  of  the  hypnotist 
than  of  the  hypnotized  person.  For  further  particulars  I  refer 
the  reader  to  von  Lilienthal's  essay.  The  exigency  of  a  person 
wishing  to  be  hypnotized  with  the  express  purpose  of  having 
courage  or  getting  off  scot-free  in  connection  with  a  crime  sug- 
gested to  him  is  also  dealt  with  in  the  same  article.  Courage 
is  sought  in  the  cup  by  some  people. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  that  I  am  in  complete 
concord  with  von  Lilienthal  when  he  states  that  public  exhibi- 
tions of  hypnotized  somnambulists  ought  to  be  rigidly  pro- 
hibited, on  the  ground  that  they  represent  a  gross  nuisance 


CASUISTIC  295 

which  is  detrimental  to  public  morals  and  public  health.  Such 
exhibitions  may  be  compared  with  those  of  the  insane  or  of 
physiological  experiments.  To  my  mind,  the  carrying  out  of 
hypnosis  for  gain  should  be  prohibited  altogether. 

Finally,  it  appears  to  me  that  a  frivolous  or  negligent  use  of 
suggestion,  and  especially  an  abuse  of  the  same  for  egotistical 
purposes,  even  if  they  be  not  criminal,  ought  not  to  be  neglected 
in  jurisprudence. 

CASUISTIC. — In  one  case  an  elderly,  ugly  female  spiritualist 
succeeded  in  hypnotizing  a  rich  young  man  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  became  entirely  subjected  to  her  influence,  broke  off 
from  his  relatives,  who  were  very  fond  of  him,  and  married 
the  old  witch.  The  latter  wras  wise  enough  and  tricky  enough 
to  keep  him  under  her  influence  by  her  mental  accomplishments 
and  by  means  of  sexual  stimulation.  Such-like  and  similar 
cases,  in  which  one  of  the  two  sexes  takes  the  active  and  the 
other  the  passive  part,  have  undoubtedly  always  taken  place. 
It  might  be  desirable  if  definite  legal  measures  could  be  adopted 
in  these  cases. 

Another  man  told  me  himself  that  he  had  been  influenced  in 
a  similar  way  for  a  time  by  a  woman  who  had  always  magne- 
tized him.  She  wyas  skilled  in  hypnotizing  and  was  nympho- 
maniacal-polyandrical  as  well.  This  man  succeeded  only  with 
great  difficulty  in  escaping  from  the  clutches  of  this  woman 
when  she  directed  her  attacks  toward  other  members  of  his 
family. 

In  the  Czynski  case,  on  the  contrary,  the  man  had  the  active 
part.  In  these  cases  the  passive  party  complains,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  feeling  the  compelling  influence;  he  becomes  sexually 
stimulated.  There  is  no  question  of  a  normal  love,  or  even  of  a 
normal  sexual  attraction,  but  the  feeling  of  impulsion  and  want 
of  freedom  reign  supreme.  The  influenced  person  would  like 
to  escape,  but  cannot,  even  though  the  compulsion  does  not 
attain  the  brutal  character  of  the  well-known  case  of  the  criminal 
beggar  Castellan,  cited  by  Bernheim  and  others,  who  hypnotized 
a  poor  girl,  took  advantage  of  her,  and  compelled  her  to  follow 
him. 

VON     SCHKENCK-N"OTZI:!STG'S     VIEWS     AXD     CASES.  —  Von 


296  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Schrenck   has   taken   up    this    question   during   the   last    few 
years.1 

Von  Schrenck  divides  the  forensic  cases,  as  I  too  have  done, 
into  — 

1.  Crimes  on  hypnotized  persons. 

2.  Crimes  which  are  committed  with  the  assistance  of  hypno- 
tized persons. 

3.  He  adds  a  third  category  :  criminal  acts,  induced  by  sug- 
gestion during  the  waking  condition.     I  regard  this  category 
merely  as  a  variety  of  the  second,  as  will  be  gathered  from  my 
conception  of  suggestion  (and  also  Vogt's). 

Suggested  evidence  and  self-accusation  should  figure  instead 
as  the  third  category. 

To  the  first  category  a  number  of  cases  belong  in  which  a 
markedly  lethargic,  deep,  hysterical  hypnosis  was  abused  for 
sexual  assaults.  As  a  rule,  the  culprit  was  discovered  and 
punished. 

The  following  is  a  short  resume  which  von  Schrenck  gives 
of  the  most  important  cases  : 

"  A  certain  patient  writes  in  his  autobiography  that  he  ren- 
dered a  young  woman,  who  was  tied  to  a  decrepit  old  man, 
deeply  somnambulic,  and  commanded  her  during  this  condition 
to  perform  certain  onanistic  manipulations  with  his  genital 
organs.  This  she  did,  but  did  not  remember  anything  about 
it  after  awakening.  The  sexual  intercourse  was  continued  for 
three  months,  and  was  not  discovered.  The  lady,  however, 
possessed  a  passionate  disposition,  and  loved  her  seducer.  He 
would  in  all  probability  have  been  able  to  possess  her  in  the 
waking  condition  as  well.  He  chose  this  peculiar  hypnotic 
way,  as  he  feared  detection." 

"  Miss  von  B.,  daughter  of  a  superior  officer,  was  hypnotized 
by  a  clergyman,  and  raped  while  in  the  condition  of  somnam- 
bulism, and  the  sexual  abuse  was  repeatedly  carried  out  in  this 
way.  After  nine  months  a  child  was  born.  The  criminal  prose- 
cution of  the  culprit  was  not  proceeded  with,  in  order  to  avoid 
publicity.  Later  on,  when  Miss  von  B.  had  become  engaged, 


Schrenck,  "The  Medico-Forensic  Aspect  of  Suggestion."     (Archiv 
fur  Criminal-Anthropologw  und  Criminalistik,  August,  1900.) 


VON  SCHRENCK'S  CASE  297 

her  lover  used  the  susceptibility  which  still  remained  from  the 
past  experiments  in  his  fiancee  for  fresh  hypnotic  experiments ; 
drew  from  her  confessions  about  all  sorts  of  details  of  her  inmost 
self,  and  dictated  his  will  to  her  by  means  of  suggestion  during 
the  condition  of  deep  hypnosis,  when  they  had  any  difference 
of  opinion.  This  mischief  was  only  got  rid  of  after  my  medical 
aid  had  been  called  upon,  and  an  energetic  hypnotherapeutic 
treatment  had  been  instituted." 

"  Czynski  [see  above]  had  hypnotized  the  Baroness  for  medi- 
cal reasons,  and  having  got  her  in  such  a  deep  hypnotic  condi- 
tion that  she  was  no  longer  capable  of  evincing  her  own  will, 
he  suggested  his  love  for  her,  with  the  assistance  of  kisses 
and  caresses.  After  six  or  eight  hypnoses  of  this  kind,  he 
succeeded  in  getting  her  to  yield  herself  to  him,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  she  did  not  return  his  love.  Her  resistance  had  been 
artificially  broken  down  by  hypnotic  means,  love  suggestions 
in  connection  with  actual  touching  of  her  body,  as  well  as  by 
influencing  her  phantasy  during  waking.  Czynski  had  there- 
fore obtained  the  acceptation  of  his  love  proposals  with  the 
help  of  easily  carried  out  suggestion.  The  jury  acquitted  the 
accused  in  respect  to  this  part  of  the  charge  (offense  against 
morality),  probably  on  account  of  the  legal  interpretation  of 
the  act,  or  possibly  because  the  Baroness  later  yielded  herself 
voluntarily  to  her  seducer.  But  in  spite  of  this,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  about  the  crime  of  the  accused,  and  therefore  about 
the  criminal  use  which  he  made  of  the  hypnotic  condition  by 
means  of  intentional  suggestions.  In  this  instructive  case, 
therefore,  the  decision  of  the  hypnotic  specialist  will  differ  from 
that  of  the  lawyer." 

"  Laurent  reports  a  case  of  this  kind  in  which  a  medical 
student  hypnotized  a  cousin  of  his,  whom  he  had  put  in  the 
family  way,  and  suggested  to  her  the  symptoms  of  abortion  for 
a  definite  time  (suggestion  a  echeance}.  The  abortion  set  in 
at  the  required  time." 

"  Johann  Berchthold,  triple  murderer.  Since  the  mysterious 
uncertainty  which  attached  to  the  deed  was  not  cleared  up  after 
the  discovery  of  the  murder,  a  portion  of  the  Miinchen  daily 
press  began  a  kind  of  preliminary  examination.  Notices  ap- 


298  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

peared  daily  in  the  most-read  journals  about  the  murder  for 
nearly  a  month,  as  well  as  critical  remarks  about  the  unsatis- 
factory arrangements  for  public  safety  and  of  the  police 
arrangements  of  the  Isar  town.  Besides,  the  Government 
offered  a  reward  of  1,000  marks  for  the  detection  of  the  mur- 
derer. Furthermore,  the  Munchener  Neueste  Nachrichten 
invited  any  one  who  knew  anything  of  the  matter  to  report  it 
to  the  editorial  staff,  promising  the  strictest  confidence.  The 
material  gained  in  this  way  formed  matter  for  publication,  and 
satisfied  the  cravings  for  sensational  news.  After  several  per- 
sons had  brought  forward  matters  relating  to  the  occurrence, 
this  journal  declared  at  the  time,  before  the  magistrates  had 
completed  their  preliminary  investigations,  *  that  there  was 
practically  no  doubt  that  Berchthold  was  the  murderer.'  The 
result  of  this  behavior  of  the  press  was  that  numerous  persons 
offered  themselves  as  witnesses,  and  gave  evidence  on  oath, 
making  statements  which  represented  the  most  obvious  contra- 
dictions. Apart  from  this,  the  photograph  of  Berchthold,  which 
had  been  published  in  the  papers,  caused  several  persons  to 
have  undoubted  reactionary  falsification  of  memory.  Several 
female  persons  swore  that  this  man — or  some  person  bearing  a 
striking  resemblance  to  him — had  attempted  to  gain  admission 
into  their  houses,  in  the  same  way  as  admission  had  been  gained 
into  the  houses  of  the  murdered  persons.  Added  to  this,  there 
was  the  evidence  of  undoubtedly  hysterical  persons  and  the 
adventurous  relations  of  doubtful  and  repeatedly  convicted  indi- 
viduals, and  the  only  argument  for  the  trustworthiness  of  this 
evidence  was  that  it  was  given  on  oath.  The  suggestion  exer- 
cised by  the  press  in  favor  of  the  guilt  of  the  accused  had  there- 
fore not  failed  in  its  action.  The  defense  assumed  this  stand- 
point, with  the  result  that  the  magistrates  had  to  desist  from 
calling  a  number  of  witnesses  for  the  prosecution.  But  the 
proof  independent  of  the  evidence  of  witnesses,  the  past  life  of 
Berchthold,  his  insufficient  attempt  to  prove  an  alibi,  his  whole 
behavior — all  were  so  much  against  him  that  the  jury  would 
have  found  him  guilty  even  without  taking  into  consideration 
the  '  psychical  epidemic '  produced  by  the  press.  The  difficult 
duty  of  the  experts  (Grashey  and  von  Schrenck-Notzing)  lay 


THE    BERCHTHOLD    CASE  299 

in  discovering  the  source  of  error  of  the  memory,  and  in  report- 
ing on  the  mental  condition  of  a  number  of  witnesses  in  respect 
to  the  trustworthiness  of  their  evidence. 

"  Whether  one  believes  that  Berchthold  was  guilty  or  inno- 
cent, the  trial  indisputably  showed  up  the  fact  that  part  of  the 
evidence  of  witnesses  was  inspired  by  the  newspapers.  In 
what  other  way  can  one  explain,  e.g.,  the  curious  circumstance 
that,  during  the  fourteen  days'  proceedings,  not  less  than  seven 
persons  surrendered  themselves  with  the  statement  that  they 
had  committed  the  murder  of  the  Roos  family?  Among  the 
two  hundred  and  ten  witnesses  called  there  were  eighteen  whose 
evidence  could  be  referred  to  the  influence  of  the  newspaper 
notices.  One  of  these,  for  example,  stated  '  he  had  noticed  the 
accused  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  house  in  which  the  deed  had 
been  committed  (a  house  in  Karl  Street)  three  times  at  a 
certain  hour  on  a  Friday  afternoon,  and  had  recognized  him 
again  at  once,  after  the  publication  of  the  photograph.'  But 
the  fact  that  the  same  witness  had  been  present  at  a  trial  in  the 
courts  at  the  hour  mentioned  on  that  particular  Friday  contra- 
dicted the  evidence,  which  was  given  on  oath.  As  he  could 
not  have  been  in  two  places  at  one  time,  the  value  of  his  evi- 
dence could  be  judged  from  this.  Six  other  witnesses — all 
female  householders  of  the  town  of  Munich — stated  on  their 
oath  independently  that  they  had  been  visited  by  a  suspicious- 
looking  man,  who  had  attempted  to"  gain  admission  on  the 
pretext  of  having  to  do  something  to  the  arrangements  of  the 
water-closets.  They  only  recognized  the  suspicious  person  as 
the  accused  Berchthold  when  his  photograph  had  been  pub- 
lished. More  than  this,  one  of  the  papers  represented  Berch- 
thold wearing  some  clothes  which  he  had  never  worn.  One 
of  the  witnesses  said  that  she  noticed  these  clothes  on  the  suspi- 
cious person,  although  they  were  only  in  Berchthold's  possession 
in  the  imagination  of  the  artist,  and  not  in  reality. 

"  In  short,  the  result  of  this  proceeding,  which  is  so  very 
interesting  for  the  doctrine  of  suggestion,  teaches  that  the 
authorities  still  lack  a  proper  knowledge  of  the  suggestive  factor 
in  law  cases ;  that  the  number  of  persons  who  give  evidence  on 
oath  in  good  faith  untruthfully  and  inexactly  is  much  greater 


300  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

than  one  usually  supposes.  Above  all,  it  has  brought  new  proof 
of  the  suggestive  power  of  the  press." 

"  On  October  2,  1899,  the  wife  of  the  butcher  Sauter  was 
charged  before  the  Upper  Bavarian  Criminal  Court  in  Munich 
with  attempted  murder,  and  with  inciting  to  murder  nine 
persons. 

"  German  law  punishes  attempts  and  incitations  to  crime, 
even  if  they  are  undertaken  with  inefficacious  means.  The 
prisoner  was  accused  of  having  attempted  to  kill  her  husband, 
with  whom  she  had  lived  unhappily,  by  strewing  gentian  root 
into  his  socks.  This,  in  her  opinion,  was  supposed  to  be  a 
means  of  killing ;  it  had  been  advised  to  her  by  a  fortune-teller. 
Apart  from  this,  she  was  charged  with  having  incited  the 
fortune-teller  to  kill  by  magic  means  nine  persons  who  stood 
in  her  way,  among  whom  were  three  of  her  children,  two  former 
servants,  etc. 

"  The  prisoner  was  at  her  menopause,  suffered  considerably 
from  pelvic  troubles,  and  showed  marked  signs  of  hysteria. 
Being  extremely  superstitious,  she  regarded  the  fortune-teller, 
whom  she  consulted  on  every  important  occasion,  as  a  person 
endowed  with  supernatural  capabilities  and  with  the  power  of 
determining  the  fate  of  persons  and  of  life  and  death.  The 
fortune-teller,  on  the  other  hand,  stimulated  the  imagination 
of  Frau  Sauter  by  all  sorts  of  humbug,  and  was  able  to  profit 
materially,  and  systematically  to  fleece  her  victim.  This  for- 
tune-teller, it  was  proved,  had  been  convicted  twenty-one  times 
previously  for  serious  offenses.  The  court  had  no  doubt  that 
the  fortune-teller  was  really  the  guilty  party.  She  had  been 
able,  by  her  swindling,  to  convince  the  credulous  prisoner,  who 
had  fallen  entirely  under  her  influence,  that  it  was  very  easy 
to  cause  all  persons  who  stood  in  her  way  to  die  a  natural  death, 
and  it  was  she  who  had  in  this  way  first  suggested  to  her  the 
whole  plan  of  the  murder,  albeit  unintentionally.  As  these 
ideas  took  hold  of  the  prisoner,  the  prophetess  informed  against 
her  victim  to  the  police,  and  induced  Mrs.  Sauter  to  discuss 
the  whole  murder  plan  once  more,  and  to  make  up  a  list  of  the 
people  whom  she  had  determined  to  remove,  so  that  the  detec- 
tives, who  were  hiding  in  the  adjoining  room,  could  hear  it  all, 


THE   SAUTER   CASE  301 

and  could  appear  as  the  principal  witnesses  for  the  prose- 
cution. 

"  While  the  reports  of  Messerer  and  Focke  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  Frau  Sauter  was  in  possession  of  the  exercise  of 
her  freewill  at  the  time  of  the  deed  ascribed  to  her,  the  report 
which  I  gave  led  to  the  proof  that  the  accused,  fascinated  by 
the  fortune-teller,  had  carried  out  the  ideas  of  the  latter  while 
in  a  condition  of  suggestive  dependence ;  that  her  responsibility 
had  been  materially  diminished  as  a  result  of  hysteria,  as  a 
result  of  her  menopause,  and  as  a  result  of  superstitious  con- 
ceptions. 

"  The  jury  acquitted  the  prisoner  on  both  charges. 

"  The  Sauter  case  represents  the  first  acquittal  of  an  accused 
person  who  had  committed  a  breach  of  the  law  under  the  sug- 
gestive influence  of  another  person,  and  is  therefore  of  principal 
and  lasting  importance  for  the  doctrine  of  the  relationship  of 
suggestion  to  criminal  law." 

"  About  seven  years  ago  a  five-year-old  girl  was  placed  under 
my  treatment.  This  child  suffered  from  '  destructiveness,' 
which  extended  itself  in  the  most  cunning  way  to  the  most 
valuable  possessions  of  the  family.  The  parents  never  suc- 
ceeded in  catching  the  child  red-handed.  The  deeds  always  took 
place  when  their  backs  were  turned  or  when  they  were  absent. 
Once  the  child  was  found  in  flames  in  bed.  The  numerous 
frequently  repeated  thefts  and  destructions,  which  were  carried 
out  in  a  very  cunning  manner,  caused  the  parents  considerable 
material  losses.  Educational  influencing  and  punishments 
failed  to  improve  matters.  The  child  cried,  and  confessed  fresh 
misdeeds.  At  last  the  child  was  chained  up  and  treated  hyp- 
notically, but  the  criminal  deeds  nevertheless  continued.  After 
nine  months  an  accidental  circumstance  disclosed  the  truth. 
The  child  went  into  the  country  with  her  parents,  while  her 
nurse  stayed  in  town.  From  this  moment  the  destructions 
ceased.  It  was  now  discovered  that  the  child  was  absolutely 
innocent,  but  that  the  hysterical  nurse  had  committed  the  deeds, 
or  had  caused  them  to  be  carried  out.  She  knew  how  to  con- 
tinuously suggest  the  consciousness  of  guilt  to  the  child  placed 
under  her  care  in  such  a  way  that  the  latter  had  stood  all  the 


302  HYPNOTISM   AND  PSYCHOTHERAPY 

punishments  for  nine  months  without  a  murmur,  and  repeated 
the  confessions,  which  had  been  suggestively  dictated  to  her, 
without  ever  betraying  her  tyrant." 

"  False  accusations  of  medical  men  and  hypnotists  for  sexual 
misdeeds  are  much  more  frequent  than  proved  real  immoral 
acts  on  hypnotized  persons.  Even  in  the  case  of  actual  seduc- 
tion, the  excuse  that  they  were  the  victims  of  a  suggestive 
impulse  is  not  uncommon.  Altogether,  false  accusations  of 
immoral  offenses  are  very  common. 

"  The  assistant  medical  officer  of  a  large  Munich  hospital 
hypnotized  the  thirteen-year-old  Magdalena  S.  for  medical 
purposes  in  his  room  without  any  witnesses,  and  was  thoughtless 
enough  to  pass  urine  in  the  presence  of  the  hypnotized  girl  dur- 
ing the  time  when  she  was  asleep.  Shortly  after  this  occurrence 
he  was  charged  by  the  Public  Prosecutor  with  having  put  his 
genital  organ  into  the  mouth  of  the  hypnotized  child,  and  hav- 
ing micturated  into  her  mouth.  The  accusation  depended  on 
the  statement  of  the  thirteen-year-old  child.  On  being  asked 
to  give  my  opinion  on  this  case,  I  soon  came  to  the  conclusion, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the  facts,  and  on  examining  the 
child,  that  the  matter  dealt  with  a  dreamy,  illusionary  warping 
of  conceptions  during  the  hypnotic  condition;  this  took  place 
in  connection  with  the  passing  of  the  urine.  The  retroactive 
pseudo-reminiscences  had  been  exaggerated  in  the  waking  con- 
dition by  imagination  and  by  discussing  the  matter  with  her 
relatives.  And  thus  the  simple  product  of  false  autosuggestive 
interpretation  of  conceptions  in  hypnosis  and  of  reactive  falsifi- 
cation of  memory  became  the  basis  of  a  heavy  charge,  which 
threatened  to  ruin  the  whole  future  of  our  colleague.  The 
result  of  my  report,  as  I  have  already  said,  was  that  the  charge 
was  withdrawn." 

Von  Schrenck  continues :  "  Opinions  and  judgments  which 
we  read  unconsciously  infiltrate  our  thinking,  govern  the  direc- 
tion of  our  ideas,  and  have  a  powerful  influence  over  the  mold- 
ing of  our  memory.  A  confusion  of  what  has  been  personally 
experienced  and  of  that  which  has  been  heard  or  read  takes 
place  all  the  more  easily  if  the  contents  of  the  subject  in  ques- 
tion had  previously  absorbed  our  interest.  The  truth  of  repro- 


VON  SCHRENCK'S  VIEWS  303 

duction  suffers  when  there  is  a  want  of  critical  deliberation, 
when  there  is  a  lively  imagination,  and  also  at  times  when 
psychical  excitement  (emotions)  or  tiredness  are  present.  If 
the  elements  of  a  momentary  situation  are  carried  over  to  the 
impressions  of  memory  the  situation  may  be  easily  falsified  in 
the  sense  of  a  new  perception  (cf.  the  influence  of  the  appear- 
ance of  Berchthold's  photograph  on  the  remembrance  of  the 
suspicious  visitor).  These  external  stimulations  may  exercise 
a  suggestive  influence,  and  may  offer  a  suitable  site  for  sources 
of  error  in  our  memory.  A  complete  picture  can  be  made  up 
of  fancy  and  truth  in  this  way,  as  it  was  with  several  of  the 
witnesses  in  the  Berchthold  trial,  without  it  being  possible  for 
the  psychological  expert  always  to  detect  the  correct  cause  for 
the  individual  portions  of  the  impression  of  memory. 

"  One  must  therefore  regard  it  as  an  error  in  judicial  exami- 
nation if  the  details  of  the  remembrances  in  the  evidence  of 
witnesses  are  too  much  overrated.  Altogether,  the  sources  of 
error  of  memory  receive  much  too  little  attention  in  the  court 
of  law.  An  intimate  knowledge  of  them  would  protect  the 
judge  from  falling  into  the  dangerous  mistake  of  confusing 
perjury  and  falsification  of  memory.  He  would  thus  be  capa- 
ble of  distinguishing  more  easily  the  nucleus  of  truth  from  the 
product  of  suggestion.  Apart  from  this,  he  would  impose 
greater  reserve  in  hearing  of  witnesses,  so  that  no  details  in 
the  evidence  would  be  suggested  to  them.  A  careful  estimation 
of  the  doctrine  of  suggestion  would  cause  the  organizations  for 
the  safety  of  the  public  to  limit  the  influence  of  the  press  on 
criminality,  which  is  still  greatly  undervalued. 

"  The  judging  of  the  conditions  in  foro  becomes  difficult  if, 
as  in  the  Sauter  case,  the  intellectual  originator  (in  this  case 
the  fortune-teller,  Frau  Gaenzbauer)  has  absolutely  no  concep- 
tion of  the  lawlessness  of  her  actions,  and  of  having  committed 
a  crime.  We  are  therefore  dealing  with  unintentional,  unno- 
ticed influencing.  For  Frau  Gaenzbauer  was  obviously  not 
cognizant  that  she  had  excited  in  Frau  Sauter  the  trend  of  ideas 
aiming  at  the  removal  of  her  husband  and  of  other  persons  by 
her  superstitious  humbug.  She  was  completely  ignorant  that 
on  the  occasion  of  the  demonstration  before  the  hidden  detec- 


304  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

tives  she  had,  so  to  say,  dictated  the  whole  murder  plan  to  her 
victim,  and  that  she  conducted  the  whole  conversation  in  this 
way,  according  to  the  procedure  agreed  to  by  the  police.  The 
court  of  justice  is  not  in  a  position,  under  these  circumstances, 
to  punish  either  the  originator  or  the  person  who  has  carried 
out  the  deed,  since  it  is  impossible  to  prove  a  criminal  intention. 

"  There  is  scarcely  a  sphere  of  human  error  which  offers 
such  a  favorable  basis  for  the  development  of  suggestive  action 
as  does  superstition.  This  always  presents  itself,  as  Loewen- 
stimm  has  so  ably  described,  as  a  product  of  the  ignorance  and 
undeveloped  condition  of  whole  classes  of  people,  and  leads  not 
infrequently  to  the  committing  of  extraordinarily  cruel  crimes." 

The  results  of  von  Schrenck's  account  are  summarized  as 
follows : 

"  1.  Crimes  committed  on  hypnotized  persons  and  those 
committed  with  the  help  of  hypnotized  persons  (posthypnosis) 
are  almost  entirely  limited — 

"  (a)   To  sexual  misdeeds  (e.g.,  Czynski  case,  1894). 

"  (6)  To  the  dangerous  abuse  of  hypnotized  persons  (public 
shows,  the  exhibition  of  the  mysterious). 

"  2.  Suggestion  in  waking  condition  possesses  a  medico- 
forensic  importance,  which  has  hitherto  not  been  realized  in 
its  full  extent.  For — 

"  (a)  It  is  capable  of  causing  persons  who  are  mentally  per- 
fectly normal  to  give  false  bond  fide  sworn  evidence  (e.g.,  the 
eighteen  false  witnesses  in  the  Berchthold  trial,  1896;  influ- 
ence of  the  press;  psychical  epidemics). 

"  (fc)  It  can  impel  persons  who  are  specially  susceptible  to 
suggestive  influence  to  commit  criminal  acts  (Sauter  case, 
1899). 

"  3.  Generally  speaking,  criminal  suggestions  are  not  dan- 
gerous for  normal  individuals  with  well-developed  moral  resist- 
ance, but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  following  fall  an  easy  prey 
to  it :  childish,  psychopathically  inferior,  hysterical,  psychically 
weak,  ethically  defective  individuals,  in  whom  the  possibility 
of  resistance  is  diminished  by  a  feeble  cultivation  of  the  moral 
balance." 

I  am  in  full  agreement  with  von  Schrenck-Notzing  that  legal 


LAY   HYPNOTIZING  305 

measures  are  required  against  unauthorized  hypnotizing  by 
non-medical  persons.  A  person  who  is  particularly  gifted  in 
hypnotizing  might  be  allowed  to  hypnotize  for  scientific  or 
therapeutic  purposes  under  the  supervision  and  responsibility 
of  a  medical  practitioner. 

But  the  mischief  that  is  done  by  hypnotism  by  careless  or 
greedy  persons  under  the  name  of  spiritualism,  telepathy, 
clairvoyance,  fortune-telling,  and  the  like,  as  well  as  for  fun 
and  for  show,  is  increasing  into  dangerous  dimensions.  One 
ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  interfere  at  will  with  one's  neighbor's 
brain,  any  more  than  with  the  rest  of  his  body  or  with  his 
money.  Unfortunately,  one  gives  the  laity  a  perfectly  free 
hand,  and  is  always  prepared  to  blame  the  medical  man. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  harm  done  by,  and  the  crimes  which 
are  ascribed  to,  suggestion  are  mostly  the  work  of  the  laity,  and 
especially  of  the  spiritualists.  These  persons  do  not  realize 
that  they  work  with  the  brain  of  their  usually  hysterical  medi- 
ums, and  impose  things  on  these  latter  which  in  time  do  grave 
damage  to  health,  even  when  deceit  and  assaults  are  not  coupled 
with  it.  Regular  epidemics  of  hysterical  attacks,  autohypnoses, 
and  the  like,  have  been  produced  in  this  way.  The  laity  fails 
to  understand  how  to  avoid  autosuggestions  and  how  to  remove 
them. 

It  is  not  my  duty  to  make  suggestions  for  laws.  But  we  must 
insist  that  more  attention  be  paid  to  this  subject  in  the  future 
than  has  been  paid  in  the  past,  and  that  at  least  a  medical  super- 
vision be  introduced. 


CHAPTEK   XIII 

HYPNOTISM    AND    THE    MEDICAL,    SCHOOLS 

THE  postulate  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter  proves  con- 
clusively that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  medical  practitioner  to  know 
and  understand  suggestion,  even  if  the  reader  has  not  been 
convinced  of  this  in  the  earlier  chapters.  Unfortunately,  this 
is  still  far  from  being  accomplished.  The  majority  of  medical 
men  are  still  lay  and  ignorant  persons  in  respect  of  the  question 
of  suggestion. 

In  this  respect  there  exists  a  serious  gap  in  our  medical 
studies.  Medical  practitioners  are  mostly  extremely  ignorant 
not  only  in  the  suggestion  question,  but  also  in  psychology  and 
psychophysiology,  and  for  this  reason  they  are  incapable  of 
comprehending  the  doctrine  of  suggestion.  They  interpret  the 
matter  almost  as  lay  people  do,  and  are  frequently  inclined  to 
wander  over  from  "  materialism  "  to  "  spiritualism,"  or,  at  all 
events,  to  "  telepathy,"  evidencing  a  want  of  critical  spirit, 
since  the  relationship  of  psychology  to  the  physiology  of  the 
brain  appears  to  them  to  be  "  a  dark,  uncanny  sphere."  They 
have  followed  their  studies  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  with- 
out taking  cerebral  life  and  its  influence  on  the  body  into  con- 
sideration. Only  a  few  attempt  to  educate  themselves  thor- 
oughly on  this  point  later  on.  How  can  one  ever  understand 
the  normal  and  pathological  man  without  understanding  his 
brain  and  its  functions  ? 

A  large  number  of  the  worst  mistakes  of  our  numerous  spe- 
cialists arise  from  this.  They  seek  the  causes  of  central  disturb- 
ances in  the  periphery  of  the  body,  because  the  psychophysio- 
logical  mechanism  is  incomprehensible  to  them. 

It  suffices  to  have  pointed  out  this  defect,  in  order  to  show 
that  the  filling  out  of  it  has  become  an  urgent  need.  The  study 
of  modern  psychology,  psychophysiology,  and  the  doctrine  of 

306 


IMPORTANCE  OF   STUDY  OF  SUGGESTION  307 

suggestion  (the  latter  in  connection  with  a  small  clinic  or  out- 
patient department)  ought  to  be  rendered  possible  in  every 
medical  school. 

It  is  only  in  this  way  that  a  successful  struggle  against  super- 
stition and  quackery  will  be  possible,  and  that  the  medical  prac- 
titioners will  be  able  to  escape  making  those  awkward  blunders 
which  the  laity  nowadays  is  on  the  look  out  for.  In  this  I  am 
only  speaking  of  the  results  of  empirical  practitioners,  and  do 
not  even  include  the  attacks  which  could  be  made  on  them  by 
psychologically  trained  non-medical  persons.  It  is  clear  that 
if  the  medical  practitioner  diagnoses  and  treats  a  local  disturb- 
ance, which  does  not  exist,  through  his  ignorance  of  suggestion 
and  of  the  phenomena  of  pathological  autosuggestion,  or  else 
if  he  goes  to  the  other  extreme  and  suspects  the  patient  of 
malingering,  he  will  lay  himself  open  to.  being  laughed  at  by 
the  first  quack  whom  the  patient  consults,  or  by  one  of  the 
religious  magic  institutions.  These  blunders  act  like  so  many 
harmful  stabs  inflicted  on  science,  its  earnestness,  and  its 
dignity. 

Bernheim  has  already  shown  that  the  magic  of  the  "  stigma- 
tized "  Luisa  Lateau  undoubtedly  depends  on  suggestion,  as 
he  was  able  to  obtain  the  same  by  suggestive  means.  The  same 
applies  in  my  opinion  to  the  "  miraculous  cures  "  which  are 
attained  in  Protestant  so-called  "  prayer  "  institutes. 

In  Zeller's  institute  in  Maennedorf,  Canton  Zurich,  e.g., 
Mr.  Zeller  lays  his  hand  (the  right  or  the  left)  on  the  naked 
affected  part  of  the  body  for  a  definite  length  of  time  (laying 
on  of  hands  in  accordance  to  the  Bible),  repeats  this  procedure 
according  to  the  requirements,  and  in  this  way  obtains  the  cure 
of  pains,  paralyses,  etc.  A  second  form  of  laying  on  of  hands 
which  is  employed  there  is  the  "  anointing  with  oil "  (also 
from  the  Bible).  The  hand  is  moistened  with  cold  olive  oil, 
and  "  laid  on  "  in  the  manner  before-mentioned.  Mr.  Zeller, 
who  told  me  this  himself,  ascribes  the  chief  power  to  the  prayer 
connected  with  the  procedure,  and  believes  that  he  can  disprove 
the  assertion  that  "  it  is  magnetism,"  since  he  does  not  employ 
any  passes  (strokings).  But  the  Nancy  school  does  not  employ 
these  either. 


308  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

However,  that  Mr.  Zeller  suggests  his  patients  intensely  with- 
out realizing  it,  both  verbally  and  by  touching  the  affected  part, 
is  quite  obvious  from  what  has  already  been  said.  Apart  from 
the  absolutely  different  explanation,  his  curative  method  is 
extremely  like  Liebeault's  method  of  suggestive  therapy,  only 
it  would  seem  that  waking  suggestion  is  mostly  applied. 

It  has  always  been  a  high  ethical  and  cultural  privilege  of 
the  education  centers  and  of  science  to  illuminate  into  the 
darkness  of  superstition  and  of  ignorance  with  the  torch  of 
knowledge.  It  is  therefore  disheartening  to  see  how  just  these 
centers  still  behave  toward  the  doctrine  of  suggestion  and  the 
newer  psychological  investigations,  hesitatingly,  timidly,  and 
even  opposingly,  although  no  other  discipline  is  capable  of 
throwing  so  much  light  on  the  modern  forms  of  superstition. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

SUGGESTION   IN   ANIMALS THE   WINTER  AND  SUMMER  SLEEPERS 

LiEBEAULT1  has  referred  the  winter  sleep  of  the  dormouse  to 
psychical  causes  analogous  to  suggestion,  and  proved  already 
at  that  time  that  cold  could  not  be  the  cause  of  this  sleep,  since 
the  same  animals  not  infrequently  slept  in  summer  and  in 
warm  rooms,  and  because  a  Madagascar  mouse  regularly  falls 
into  lethargy  during  the  warmest  time  of  the  year. 

I  myself  have  made  the  following  personal  observations:2 
In  the  year  1877  I  was  in  Munich.  I  was  offered  two  dor- 
mice (Myoxys  glis},  because  their  owner  had  been  bitten  by 
them.  He  gave  them  to  me  in  the  winter,  and  I  was  astonished 
to  find  that  they  were  not  asleep,  but  that  they  were  very 
lively,  which  I  ascribed  to  the  warmth  of  the  room.  I  placed 
them  in  a  wire  cage,  standing  some  five  to  six  feet  high,  in  the 
middle  of  which  was  a  small  fir-tree  of  the  same  height.  I 
allowed  the  little  animals  to  run  about  in  my  room  besides. 
They  remained  lively  all  through  the  winter,  and  ate  up  a  large 
quantity  of  walnuts  and  hazel-nuts.  When  one  of  them  was 
gnawing  through  the  nutshell  with  much  difficulty  the  other 
came  up  behind  noiselessly,  and  tried  to  snatch  it  away  from 
the  first.  They  remained  wild  and  inclined  to  bite. 

After  having  eaten  a  lot  during  the  whole  spring,  they  became 
very  fat,  and  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  see  them  fall  into  a 
lethargic  sleep  one  after  the  other  in  the  month  of  May.  This 
was  contrary  to  the  assertions  of  the  books,  which  state  that 
the  sleep  is  the  result  of  the  winter  cold.  They  had  got  as  fat 
as  little  bears,  their  movements  had  become  slower,  and  they 
crept  together  into  a  corner  and  became  completely  lethargic. 
Their  body  temperature  sank  while  they  were  in  this  condition, 

lLi6beault,  "Du  Sommeil  et  des  Etats  Analogues."    (Paris,  1866,  Masson.) 
JForel,  Revue  de  I'Hypnotisme,  April  1,  1887,  p.  318. 

309 


310  HYPNOTISM  AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

their  respiratory  movements  became  slower,  and  their  lips 
cyanotic.  When  put  into  the  open  air  the  animals,  which  were 
more  or  less  rolled  up,  stretched  themselves  partly  when  turned 
on  their  backs.  On  pricking  them  with  a  needle,  they  made  a 
reflex  movement,  and  uttered  a  mild  grunt  or  hiss.  I  was  able 
to  awaken  them  for  an  instant  by  stimulating  them  strongly, 
but  they  relapsed  into  their  lethargy  as  soon  as  I  left  them  alone 
again. 

I  then  made  the  following  experiment:  I  took  one  of  the 
dormice  and  placed  it  on  the  top  branch  of  the  fir-tree. 
Although  it  was  asleep,  to  bring  the  sole  of  its  foot  into  contact 
with  the  thin  branch  of  the  tree  was  sufficient  to  call  forth  a 
reflex  flexion,  by  means  of  which  it  clung  to  the  branch  with 
its  claws,  just  as  it  would  have  done  had  the  corresponding 
instinctive  movement  taken  place  during  the  waking  condition. 
I  then  let  the  dormouse  go,  hanging  on  one  branch  with  one 
foot.  Soon  it  gradually  sank  into  a  deeper  sleep  again.  The 
muscles  of  the  clinging  foot  slowly  relaxed,  the  polar  or  plantar 
surfaces  of  the  foot  extended  themselves  slowly,  and  after  a 
short  time  only  the  extremity  close  to  the  claws  held  on  to  the 
branch.  I  thought  that  my  dormouse  would  have  fallen.  How- 
ever, as  it  was  beginning  to  lose  its  balance,  its  nervous  system 
was  pervaded  by  a  sort  of  instinctive  flash,  and  the  other  foot 
grasped  that  branch  which  lay  next  lowest,  so  that  the  animal 
had  thus  climbed  down  one  step.  The  same  scene  then  began 
again:  the  dormouse  went  fast  asleep  again;  the  foot  relaxed 
again  slowly,  until  it  nearly  let  go,  then  the  other  foot  grasped 
a  branch  lying  a  little  lower.  In  this  way  the  animal  climbed 
down  the  tree  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  without  awakening 
or  falling  until  it  arrived  at  the  floor  of  the  cage,  where  it 
continued  to  sleep.  I  repeated  the  experiment  several  times 
with  both  dormice,  always  with  the  same  result.  Neither  of 
them  fell  on  a  single  occasion. 

The  lethargic  sleep  of  my  dormice,  although  interrupted 
from  time  to  time  for  a  few  hours  or  even  a  day  by  more  or 
less  complete  awakening,  during  which  time  they  took  some 
food,  lasted  for  the  greater  part  of  the  summer,  and  gradually 
left  off  in  the  month  of  August.  The  little  animals  had  slept 


LETHARGIC   SLEEP   OF   DORMICE  311 

through  the  great  heat  of  June  and  July.  They  were  con- 
siderably wasted  toward  the  end  of  their  lethargic  sleep — still, 
less  than  I  had  expected.  During  the  lethargy  their  body  tem- 
perature was  about  20°  to  22°  C.,  as  far  as  I  could  measure  it 
with  a  very  imperfect  thermometer. 

These  facts  prove  conclusively  that  the  so-called  winter  sleep 
of  the  dormice  does  not  depend  on  low  temperatures.  Perhaps 
the  nutrition,  and  especially  the  accumulation  of  fat  in  their 
body  tissues,  plays  a  leading  part  in  it.  But  it  seems  to  me  to 
be  probable,  from  the  observations  recounted  above,  that  this 
condition,  independent  of  what  cause  produces  it,  is  closely 
related  to  hypnosis  on  the  one  hand  and  to  catalepsy  on  the 
other.1 

It  is  a  fact  (Liebeault,  Bernheim,  Wetterstrand)  that  one 
can  produce  a  deep,  long-lasting  catalepsy,  with  slowing  and 
weakening  of  all  the  living  functions,  in  man  by  means  of 
suggestion  under  certain  circumstances.  It  is  further  certain 
that  the  dormouse  never  sleeps,  when  it  is  free,  outside  its 
nest,  that  it  makes  its  preparations  for  the  sleep,  and  that  in 
consequence  the  setting  in  of  the  sleep  depends  up  to  a  certain 
degree  on  association  conceptions.  My  observations  prove  that 
even  during  the  lethargic  sleep  certain  purposeful  movements 
can  be  incited  by  sensory  stimuli.  The  relatively  sudden  tran- 
sition from  the  waking  to  the  sleeping  condition  and  the  reverse, 
and  also  the  temporary  awakening  and  going  to  sleep  again  men- 
tioned above,  speaks  in  favor  of  the  part  played  by  suggestion 
in  the  winter  sleep  of  the  dormouse.  These  facts  appear  to  me 

1  It  was  only  after  publication  that  I  became  aware  of  an  earlier  work  of 
Quincke's  ("On  the  Thermic  Regulation  in  the  Marmot,  Archiv  fur  experi- 
mentelle  Pathologic  und  Pharmakologie,  vol.  xv.).  The  author  presumes,  on 
the  ground  of  experiments,  another  (internal)  cause  besides  cold  for  the  onset 
and  termination  of  the  winter  sleep.  He  writes :  "  It  appears  to  me  as  if  on 
awakening  (and  becoming  warm)  movements  and  reactions  may  take  place 
even  during  lower  temperatures,  and  on  going  to  sleep  (becoming  cold)  these 
become  sluggish  even  during  higher  temperatures.  For  this  reason  I  think 
that  the  alteration  of  the  body  temperature  only  follows  the  onset  and  termi- 
nation of  the  other  symptoms  of  sleep,  and  does  not  produce  them.  The 
going  to  sleep  again  after  spontaneous  awakening  (in  winter,  etc.)  takes  place 
at  very  different  rates  in  different  individuals.  This,  too,  c  hows  that,  although 
the  external  conditions — rest  and  suitable  temperature — are  necessary  con- 
ditions for  the  onset  of  the  winter  sleep  [this  is,  as  we  have  seen,  an  error— 
Forel],  the  actual  cause  for  the  onset  must  be  another  (internal)  one."  Qtnroke 
saw  the  temperature  sink  in  the  marmot  down  to  7°  and  even  to  6°  C.  dun;:g 
the  winter  sleep. 


312  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

to  prove  that  the  appearance  of  the  lethargy  depends  on  two 
components:  (1)  The  accumulation  of  fat,  predisposing  to 
somnolence;  and  (2)  the  suggestion  acting  on  the  nervous  cen- 
ters through  associative  means. 

I  now  come  to  the  celebrated  experimentum  mirabile  of 
Athanasius  Kircher,  which  the  keen-sighted  Padre  had  already 
entitled  "  On  the  Power  of  Imagination  of  the  Hen."  It  is 
true  that  the  experiment,  in  which  a  hen  was  bound  tightly  and 
rendered  rigid  by  means  of  a  chalk  line,  had  been  carried  out 
by  Daniel  Schwenter  (Niirnberg,  1636)  before  Kircher  per- 
formed it.  Schwenter  ascribed  the  rigidity  of  the  hen  to  fright. 
This  has  been  reported  by  Preyer  (Hypnotismus,  1890). 

The  physiologist,  Professor  Preyer,  took  up  these  experi- 
ments again  in  1872-1873,  according  to  Czermak,  employing 
several  animals,  and,  adopting  the  views  of  Schwenter,  referred 
the  rigidity  to  fright,  because  the  animals  are  said  to  show 
trembling,  peristalsis,  panting  respiration,  and  anaemia  of  the 
head.  He  called  this  condition,  therefore,  cataplexy,  or  fright 
rigidity.  I  have  never  been  able  to  reconcile  myself  to  this 
Schwenter-Preyer  theory  of  cataplexy,  chiefly  because  tame 
animals,  like  guinea-pigs  and  hens,  are  the  most  easily  rendered 
"  cataplexic,"  without  it  being  necessary  for  one  to  frighten 
them ;  while  frightened  wild  animals  do  not  fall  into  this  condi- 
tion so  easily.  Further — and  this  is  of  great  importance — 
there  is  an  unmistakable  analogy  between  these  conditions  and 
hypnosis. 

In  attempting  to  prove  cataplexy  and  his  lactic  acid  theory  of 
sleep,  Preyer  made  the  statement  that  there  is  no  instance  in 
which  ordinary  sleep  sets  in  suddenly — that  it  always  sets  in 
gradually.  This  is  certainly  incorrect ;  in  certain  persons  sleep 
sets  in  with  very  marked  suddenness ;  and  I  can  further  prove 
to  every  one  who  will  visit  me  that  I  can  hypnotize  a  person  as 
quickly  as  lightning,  without  allowing  a  trace  of  fright  to 
appear,  and  Charcot,  Liebeault,  Bernheim,  and  others  have 
done  the  same. 

Professor  Preyer  goes  on  to  say  that  he  had  intentionally 
examined  animals,  because  they  do  not  malinger.  I  am  sorry 
to  be  compelled  to  contradict  him  again  in  this.  We  have  not 


CATAPLEXY  313 

inherited  simulation,  together  with  so  many  other  minor  quali- 
ties, from  our  betailed  ancestors  in  order  to  dispute  them  away 
now.  Animals  simulate  very  nicely;  even  insects  know  how 
to  pretend  to  be  dead,  and  do  not  by  any  means  need  to  be  rigid 
from  fright — according  to  Preyer,  cataplexic — for  this  purpose. 
I  have  watched  the  method  of  life  of  insects  very  closely,  and 
am  absolutely  convinced,  from  innumerable  small  incidents, 
the  value  of  which  is  only  recognized  after  continuous  exact 
biological  observations,  that  the  rigidity  of  insects  pretending 
to  be  dead  is  never  due  to  fright,  which  would  render  them 
incapable  of  moving.  It  certainly  is  due  to  artfulness — al- 
though this  may  be  an  instinctively  automatized  (organized) 
artfulness — which,  being  associated  with  the  idea  of  self- 
preservation,  is  set  into  action  when  danger  looms  near.  I 
may  remind  the  reader  of  the  cunning  of  mammalian  animals. 
I  might  almost  say  that  it  is  easier  for  the  psychologist,  at  all 
events,  to  detect  simulation  in  the  majority  of  persons  than  in 
animals,  since  one  can  get  at  the  matter  later  on  by  means  of 
speech  quite  easily  with  human  beings,  which  is  impossible  with 
animals.  Apart  from  this,  we  have  seen  that  one  has  to  be 
very  careful  as  to  how  one  deals  with  the  idea  of  malingering, 
and  that  it  is  foolish  to  suspect  everybody  of  conscious  malinger- 
ing in  order  to  jeer  at  us.  One  will  be  misled  a  hundred 
times  by  unrecognized  suggestion  to  every  one  time  when  one 
is  duped  by  conscious  malingering. 

Professor  Danilewsky,  of  Charkow,1  has  carried  out  exten- 
sive experiments  on  hypnosis  in  animals,  from  the  crab  to  the 
rabbit.  The  abnormal  position  in  which  one  places  the  animal 
and  the  continuous  mild  but  consistent  overpowering  on  the  part 
of  the  hypnotist  are  most  effective  in  producing  this  condition. 
Danilewsky  proves  that  fear  itself  is  often  absent,  and  ascribes 
hypnosis  of  animals  beyond  doubt  to  suggestion.  He  says  that, 
of  course,  one  cannot  talk  of  verbal  suggestion  in  these  cases. 
But  the  influence  on  the  more  simple  conceptions  of  the  animal 
is  absolutely  homologous  to  that  of  suggestion.  The  animal 
understands  intuitively  the  suggestive  command,  subjects  to  it, 

Professor  Danilewsky,  "Conipte  rendu  du  congres  international  de  psy- 
chologic physiologique  de  Paris,  stance  du  9  aout,"  1889,  p.  79.  (Pans, 
1890.) 


314  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

and  becomes  hypnotized.  Danilewsky  has  determined  a  num- 
ber of  symptoms  of  human  hypnosis  in  this  way  in  animals; 
not  only  the  muscular  rigidity,  but  also,  e.g.,  extreme  anaes- 
thesia, and  so  on.  The  hypnosis  of  man,  says  Danilewsky,  has 
the  same  basis  phylogenetically  as  that  of  animals ;  one  is  deal- 
ing with  the  same  psychophysiological  mechanism,  only  it  is 
much  more  complicated  in  man.  The  action  of  the  fixed  look 
of  a  person — e.g.,  on  a  lion — is  distinctly  of  a  suggestive  nature. 
Danilewsky's  experiments  are  to  be  published  in  extenso  sepa- 
rately. I  must  add  that  all  suggestive  actions  in  animals 
possess  a  much  more  instinctive,  more  reflex  character  than  in 
man,  since  the  activity  of  the  lower  nerve  centers  in  the  former 
is  much  less  governed  by  the  activity  of  the  cerebrum.  They 
(animals)  are  much  more  directly  under  the  influence  of  periph- 
eral sensory  stimuli.  This  is  not  a  difference  in  principle, 
but  only  in  degree,  for  the  cerebral  activity  is  not  different  in 
principle  from  that  of  other  nerve  centers  (c/.  the  experiments 
of  Isidor  Steiner  with  fishes). 

I  must  therefore  refuse  the  theory  of  cataplexy,  and  ascribe, 
with  Danilewsky,  hypnosis  of  animals  to  a  simplified,  more 
automatic  suggestion  mechanism,  which  mechanism  can  be 
induced  at  times  by  means  of  fixation  of  the  look  and  the  like. 
In  reference  to  this  mechanism  we,  too,  are  undoubtedly  auto- 
matons to  a  greater  or  smaller  degree.  The  lethargic  sleeping 
condition  of  the  dormouse  and  several  other  mammalian  ani- 
mals is  a  simple  physiological  cataleptic  condition,  which  is 
induced  or  introduced  by  the  action  of  suggestion,  phylogenetic- 
ally adapted  to  a  definite  purpose  and  inserted  into  the  linkings 
of  instinct  (see  O.  Vogt's  theory  of  sleep). 


CHAPTER   XV 

APPENDIX A  HYPNOTIZED  HYPNOTIST 

PROFESSOR  E.  BLEULER1  writes  on  the  "  Psychology  of  Hyp- 
nosis "  as  follows : 

"  Very  few  self -observations  by  hypnotized  persons  have  so 
far  been  published.  The  following  notice  may  therefore  be 
of  some  interest : 

"  After  I  had  often  attempted  in  vain  to  allow  myself  to  be 
hypnotized  by  other  methods  (among  others  by  Hansen),  my 
friend  Professor  von  Speyr  succeeded  in  placing  me  in  a 
hypnotic  sleep  according  to  Liebeault's  method  (verbal  sugges- 
tion and  fixation).  In  order  to  assist  the  conception  of  sleep, 
I  had  gone  to  bed  (it  was  already  somewhat  late  in  the  evening). 
I  was  quite  willing  to  become  hypnotized,  but  attempted  during 
the  hypnosis  to  back  out  of  the  majority  of  the  suggestions  in 
order  to  learn  the  power  of  the  latter  and  their  influence.  Since 
the  strained  fixation  did  not  exercise  any  soporific  influence  on 
me,  and  pure  verbal  suggestion  seems  to  have  but  little  effect  on 
persons  who  themselves  hypnotize,  I  employed  the  following 
little  trick :  I  had  carried  out  experiments  on  myself  some  years 
before  on  the  importance  of  peripheral  retinal  pictures,  of 
accommodation,  etc.,  for  the  apperception  of  visual  pictures, 
and  had  discovered  that  by  certain  inexact  fixing  a  definable 
but  alternating  portion  of  the  visual  field  is  completely  ex- 
cluded— e.g.,  if  I  looked  at  a  framed  picture,  the  one  side  of 
the  frame.  The  exclusion  of  this  caused  exactly  the  same  sub- 
jective phenomena  as  the  blind  spot  when  brought  to  conscious- 
ness. I  therefore  fixed  the  eye  of  the  hypnotist  in  this  way, 

'Professor  E.  Bleuler,  "Psychology  of  Hypnosis."  (Munch.  Med.  Woch., 
1889,  No.  5).  My  colleague  Doctor  Bleuler,  now  Professor  of  Psychiatry  in 
Zurich,  had  himself  hypnotized  a  great  deal  at  the  time  of  writing,  and  had 
completely  mastered  the  method.  See  also  his  publications  on  Hypnotism. 
(Ford.)  ' 

315 


316  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

which  was  familiar  to  me.  The  defects  in  the  visual  field  which 
appeared  assumed  a  much  greater  expansion,  probably  as  a 
result  of  the  accompanying  verbal  suggestion,  than  I  had  ever 
noticed  before.  Soon  the  objects  still  perceived  by  me  became 
hazy,  then  I  felt  a  slight  burning,  and  then  a  somewhat  more 
marked  dampness  of  the  eyes,  and  at  length  I  only  saw  light 
and  shadow,  but  no  longer  the  outlines  of  any  objects.  To  my 
astonishment,  this  condition  did  not  tire  me ;  my  eyes  remained 
quietly  and  wide  open  without  an  effort  and  without  blinking; 
a  comforting  feeling  of  warmth  crept  from  my  head  over  my 
body  down  to  my  legs.  It  was  only  in  response  to  suggestions 
pointing  in  this  direction  ('  Your  eyes  will  close  of  them- 
selves ')  that  I  felt  the  need  of  closing  my  eyes  (up  to  that 
time  I  had  the  feeling  that  I  could  only  close  them  by  making 
an  effort),  and  closed  them  apparently  actively,  as  one  does  on 
going  to  sleep  quickly  when  one  is  tired.  The  hypnotizing  had 
taken  about  one  minute. 

"  My  condition  then  was  that  of  a  pleasant,  comfortable  rest ; 
it  occurred  to  me  that  I  was  not  in  the  least  inclined  to  alter  my 
position,  which,  under  other  circumstances,  would  not  have  been 
actually  comfortable.  Psychically  I  was  quite  clear,  observing 
myself;  my  hypnotist  was  able  to  confirm  all  the  objective 
things,  which  I  told  him  of,  later.  My  conceived  thoughts  were 
not  influenced  in  a  different  way  to  the  waking  condition  during 
the  following  suggestions,  but  in  spite  of  this  the  greater  part  of 
them  were  realized.  I  did  not  fix  my  particular  attention  on 
the  hypnotist,  but  did  so  on  myself  alone. 

"  My  friend  placed  one  of  my  forearms  horizontally  in  the 
air,  and  told  me  that  I  could  not  put  it  down.  I  tried  to  do 
this  directly  afterwards  with  success,  but  was  prevented  from 
carrying  this  out  completely  by  a  light  touch  of  his  hand  and 
by  renewed  suggestion.  I  then  felt  my  biceps  contracting 
against  my  will  as  soon  as  I  attempted  to  move  my  arm  by 
means  of  the  extensor  muscles;  once,  on  making  a  stronger 
effort  to  carry  out  my  intention,  the  contraction  of  the  flexors 
became  so  energetic  that  the  arm,  instead  of  moving  outward 
as  I  had  intended,  moved  backward  on  the  upper  arm. 

"  Then  my  friend  said  that  my  right  hand  was  anaesthetic. 


PROFESSOR  BLEULER'S  EXPERIENCES  317 

I  thought  to  myself  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  this,  as  it 
was  still  too  soon  for  such  a  suggestion,  and  when  he  stated  that 
he  had  pricked  me  on  the  back  of  the  hand  I  thought  that  he 
was  trying  to  deceive  me  to  make  me  more  confident.  I  only 
felt  the  touch  of  a  blunt  object  (I  thought  that  it  was  the  edge 
of  my  watch).  On  awakening,  I  was  not  a  little  astonished 
to  find  that  I  had  been  pricked.  He  did  not  succeed  in  pro- 
ducing real  anaesthesia;  only  once  when  he  remarked  that  the 
hand  was  as  if  it  had  gone  to  sleep  I  felt  a  tingling  sensation 
for  a  short  time,  and  only  felt  a  touch  as  if  through  a  thick 
bandage. 

"  The  suggestion  was  then  given  me  to  awake  at  6:15  A.M. 
(I  had  never  been  able  to  awaken  at  a  previously  determined 
time).  I  was  then  supposed  to  open  my  eyes  and  to  blow  out 
the  lamp.  I  did  this  so  clumsily  that  I  felt  somewhat  ashamed 
that  my  friend  should  see  me.  It  seemed  as  if  my  stereoscopic 
vision  was  impaired ;  I  wanted  to  hold  my  hand  obliquely  over 
the  lamp-glass  to  deflect  the  air-current  produced  by  blowing, 
but  held  it  at  one  side  several  times,  without  noticing  it.  Then 
I  held  the  hand  over  the  flame  for  a  considerable  time  without 
feeling  any  pain,  which  I  could  not  have  done  without  hypnosis 
without  feeling  considerable  pain  of  burning.  The  frequently 
and  energetically  repeated  suggestion  to  awaken  at  6:15  A.M. 
had  an  unpleasant  result.  I  did  not  awaken  during  the  whole 
night,  but  I  believe  that  I  kept  on  thinking  whether  it  was  not 
yet  a  quarter-past  six.  As  I  was  fairly  conscious  of  my  position, 
from  time  to  time  I  tried  to  listen  to  the  church  clock  so  that 
I  could  reassure  myself,  but  I  did  not  hear  it  strike  a  single 
time,  although  my  room  is  situated  opposite  the  church  tower. 
It  was  only  when  six  o'clock  struck  that  I  counted  the  four 
quarters  and  then  the  six  hour  strokes,  but  without  awakening. 
Exactly  at  the  stroke  of  6:15  there  was  a  knock  at  my  door, 
and  I  awakened  immediately.  The  next  time  the  suggestion 
of  awakening  at  a  definite  time  succeeded  without  any  dis- 
turbance after  a  pleasant  sleep,  as  the  suggestion  was  applied 
differently. 

"  On  the  following  evening  I  was  hypnotized  twice  lying  on 
the  sofa  by  Dr.  von  Speyr,  and  on  the  following  day  once  by 


318  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

Professor  Forel.  The  experiments  mentioned  were  repeated  with 
great  ease,  and,  further,  an  arm  was  rendered  rigid,  and  certain 
acts  were  required  of  me.  The  suggested  analgesia  often  lasted 
for  such  a  short  time  that  when  other  suggestions  were  given 
immediately  the  pricks,  which  I  had  only  felt  as  touches  while 
they  were  being  made,  began  to  pain  during  the  same  hypnosis. 
Painful  stiffness  of  my  legs  after  a  long  walk,  on  the  other  hand, 
disappeared  permanently  after  a  few  suggestions.  When  the 
impossibility  of  carrying  out  a  certain  movement  was  made  to 
me  I  no  longer  observed  the  contractions  of  the  antagonists  so 
frequently.  The  power  over  my  will  appeared  to  be  interfered 
with;  my  muscle  would  not  contract,  notwithstanding  all  my 
efforts.  In  the  later  suggestions  my  will  had  become  so  weak- 
ened that  I  no  longer  innervated  at  times,  contrary  to  my  inten- 
tions, because  the  vain  attempt  was  too  exhausting,  or  because 
I  did  not  think  for  the  moment  of  opposing  the  suggestion. 
When  I  was  required  to  perform  an  act  I  was  able  to  struggle 
against  it  for  a  long  time.  At  length,  however,  I  carried  it  out, 
partly  from  want  of  will-power  to  resist  it,  just  as  one  gives  in 
to  a  reflex  which  costs  a  great  effort  to  resist.  At  other  times  I 
felt  that  the  movement  was  made  without  any  active  taking  part 
of  my  ego,  this  being  especially  marked  with  unimportant  com- 
mands, such  as  the  lifting  of  a  leg.  I  had  the  feeling  on  several 
occasions  of  giving  in  in  order  to  please  the  hypnotist.  But 
since  I  was  still  mostly  clear  enough  in  such  cases  during  the 
carrying  out  to  attempt  to  resist,  the  uselessness  of  the  latter 
convinced  me  of  the  incorrectness  of  my  views.  I  felt  every 
new  suggestion,  even  the  command  to  desist  in  an  act  which 
I  had  begun,  at  first  to  be  unpleasant,  and  this  made  the  resist- 
ing easier  for  me.  I  was  able  to  oppose  the  order  to  fetch 
something  outside  the  room  with  comparative  ease,  but  could 
not  do  so  when  the  act  was  divided  up  into  its  component 
parts — e.g.,  when  I  received  the  suggestion  to  move  one  leg, 
then  the  other,  and  so  on  until  the  act  was  accomplished. 

"  I  was  able  to  resist  the  carrying  out  of  a  posthypnotic  sug- 
gestion. However,  this  cost  me  considerable  trouble,  and  if  I 
forgot  my  resolve  for  an  instant  during  talking  not  to  take  any 
notice  of  the  plate,  which  I  was  supposed  to  place  somewhere 


PROFESSOR  BLEULER'S  EXPERIENCES  319 

else,  I  suddenly  found  myself  fixing  this  object  with  my  eyes. 
The  thought  of  what  I  had  been  ordered  to  do  worried  me  until 
I  went  to  sleep,  aad  when  I  was  in  bed  I  nearly  got  up  again 
to  carry  it  out,  merely  to  ease  my  mind.  However,  I  soon  fell 
asleep,  and  the  action  of  the  suggestion  was  then  lost. 

"  It  was  only  possible  once  to  call  forth  a  hallucination.  Pro- 
fessor Forel  commanded  me  to  put  my  finger  into  my  mouth, 
and  I  would  find  it  taste  bitter.  I  expected  to  find  a  bitterness 
like  that  of  aloes,  and  was  very  astonished  to  perceive  a  sweetish 
bitter  salt  taste,  so  that  I  believed  that  my  hands  must  have 
been  soiled.  On  awakening,  a  control  showed  that  my  fingers 
were  free  from  any  substance  possessed  of  a  taste.  It  therefore 
appears  that  the  suggestion  in  this  case  had  worked  differently 
on  my  conceived  thoughts  than  on  my  unconceived  ones;  the 
latter  determined  the  realization  of  the  suggestion. 

"  My  consciousness  was  scarcely  changed.  However,  after 
awakening  from  the  two  last  hypnoses,  in  which  amnesia  had 
been  suggested  to  me,  although  not  very  intensely,  I  had  some 
difficulty  in  recalling  everything.  The  temporary  sequence  of 
the  experiments  remained  forgotten,  while  I  could  recall  the 
logical  connection  to  mind.  I  did  not  retain  any  recollections 
for  a  brief  period  of  the  third  hypnosis.  Once  when  the  hypno- 
tist made  me  lie  quite  .quiet,  slight  traces  of  hypnogogic  hallu- 
cinations made  their  appearance  (I  had  attempted  to  study 
these  several  years  ago). 

"  The  awakening  took  about  ten  seconds  in  response  to  sug- 
gestion, against  my  will  and  unaccompanied  by  any  marked 
symptoms,  and  was  similar  to  the  awakening  from  a  light 
sleep. 

"  The  condition  in  which  I  had  been  must  be  considered  as 
being  a  milder  degree  of  hypnosis,  since  no  amnesia  had  been 
present.  As  is  frequently  the  case,  it  could  not  be  classified 
exactly  according  to  the  degrees  of  hypnotic  sleep  formulated 
by  the  various  investigators.  However,  I  have  observed  appar- 
ently identical  conditions  on  several  other  occasions. 

"  The  publication  of  further  self -observations  by  educated 
persons  is  much  to  be  desired,  and  would  assist  not  inconsider- 
ably in  understanding  hypnotic  phenomena.  For  the  present 


320  HYPNOTISM   AND   PSYCHOTHERAPY 

it  would  be  important  to  know  if  the  subjective  symptoms  of 
hypnosis  are  as  enormously  manifold  and  varying  as  are  the 
objective  symptoms,  or  if  there  may  perchance  be  some  regular 
rule  in  this  respect." 

I  myself  experienced  a  sort  of  autohypnosis  some  time  ago 
(1878),  when  going  to  sleep  on  a  sofa  or  in  an  easy-chair  in  the 
afternoon.  I  was  only  able  to  awaken  myself  with  difficulty, 
and  at  first  only  partially,  so  that  to  begin  with  only  certain 
muscle  groups  awakened — i.e.,  could  be  voluntarily  moved — 
while  the  rest  of  the  body  remained  cataleptic.  At  the  same 
time  partial  dreams  occurred  (hallucinating  of  steps  or  of 
movements,  which  I  really  had  not  made,  and  the  like). 

Bleuler's  observation  is  very  instructive,  for  it  shows  very 
clearly  the  important  part  which  the  hypoconceived  cerebral 
activity  plays  in  suggestion. 

A  certain  Dr.  W.  Gebhardt  reproduced  improperly,  under  the  title  "  Medi- 
cal Certificates,"  in  an  advertising  prospectus  which  he  circulated  all  over 
the  place,  quotations  from  the  third  edition  of  this  book  (cures),  to  which  he 
appends  my  name  without  mentioning  the  source.  This  gives  the  impression 
that  I  (ana  also  my  colleagues  Bernheim,  Wetterstrand,  Ringier,  and  Burck- 
hardt,  with  whom  "he  has  dealt  in  a  similar  manner)  had  tried  and  approved 
of  the  method  of  cure  called  by  him  (Doctor  Gebhardt)  the  Lie"beault-Levy 
method,  and  also  that  I  had  communicated  these  cases  to  him  for  publica- 
tion. My  colleagues  mentioned  above  and  I  have  already  publicly  objected 
to  the  misappropriation  of  our  names,  and  Drs.  Lie"beault  and  Levy  have 
done  the  same.  All  seven  of  us  have  stated  that  we  have  absolutely  nothing 
to  do  with  Doctor  Gebhardt's  publication.  Not  one  of  us  is  acquainted  with 
him. 

I  wish  to  add  here  that  I  naturally  do  not  give  certificates  SOT  methods  of 
treatment  to  anyone,  and  I  warn  the  reader  of  this  book  against  any  future 
misuse  of  the  kind.  Lastly,  I  state  that  Dr.  C.  Bertschinger  (U.  S.  A.),  who 
publicly  claims  to  be  a  former  assistant  of  mine,  never  was  my  assistant. — 
DR.  A.  FOHEL. 


THE   END. 


INDEX 


ABUSE  of  posthypnotic  actions,  282 
Alcoholism,  191,  201,  218 
Amnesia,  62,  110 

case  of,  237 
Anaemia,  217 
Anaesthesia,  64,  189 
Animal  magnetism,  42,  54,  274 
Antagonistic  forces,  283 
Ants,  24,  38 
Apathy,  33 
Aphasia,  66 
Apperception,  29 
Association,  68,  149 
Asthma,  200,  225 
Attention,  6,  145 
Autohypnosis,  315 
Autosuggestion,  41,  55,  65,  100,  103 

Babinski,  165 

Bahnung,  31,  154 

Beard,  168,  198 

Beaunis,  119 

Berchthold  trial,  297 

Bernheim,  40,  48,  60,  128,  155,  181,  186 

Bleuler,  39,  315 

Bompard  case,  287 

Braid,  43,  53 

Brain ,  physiology  of,  22 

in  its  relation  to  consciousness,  22 
Brown-Se'quard,  273 
Burdach,  12 

Catalepsy,  62,  154 

Cataplexy,  53,  312 

Cerebrum  of  fishes,  24 

Charcot,  49,  164 

Clairvoyance,  43,  292 

Conceptions,  156 

Conditions  prime  et  secpnde,  119,  126 

Conditions  for  hypnosis,  59 

Confessions,  292,  301 

Consciousness,  1,  17,  24,  138 

illumination  of,  30 
Constellations,  143 
Constipation,  191,  199,  226 
Crimes  on  the  hypnotized,  280 
Criminal  suggestions,  282 
Czynski,  279,  282,  290 


Danilewsky,  313 
Deflections,  158 
Degrees  of  hypnosis,  85 
Delbceuf,  26,  62,  119,  286 
Delbrueck,  127 
Dictation,  46,  54 
Dissimulation  of  hypnosis,  134 
Dissociation,  76,  134,  154,  160 
Dormice,  309 
Double  consciousness,  20 

case  of,  260 
ego,  20 

Dream  consciousness,  20,  72 
Dreams,  74,  138, 149 
Dualism,  9 
Dubois,  204 
Duval,  33 
Dynamic  changes,  16,  28,  34,  283 

Ecphoria,  3 

Emotions,  99,  174 

Energy,  law  of,  11 

Engrams,  3,  92 

Evidence  in  court  of  law,  298 

Exhaustion,  146 

Exhibition  of  the  hypnotized,  294 

Exner,  31,  143 

Faith,  190,  271 
Fechner-Weber  law,  16 
Feelings,  151 
Fluid  theory,  42 
Forel's  results,  195 
Forensic  aspect  of  hypnotism,  278 
dangers,  286 

Genius  and  insanity,  210 
Grossmann,  183 

Habits,  236 

morbid,  236 

Hallucination  retroactive,  126,  292 
Hallucinations,  36,  42,  57,  72,  173,  226 

negative,  90 
Hen,  312 
Bering,  3,  146 
His,  32 
Hoeffding,  17 
Homoeopathy,  271 


321 


322 


INDEX 


Homophonia,  4 

Hypnosis,  causes  of  failure  in,  180 

degrees  of,  85 

in  animals,  314 

in  the  insane,  175 

phenomena  of,  87 

resistance  against,  100 

therapeutic  uses  of,  124 
Hypnotizability,  57 
Hypoconsciousness,  3,  22,  67, 91 
Hypotaxis,  62,  85 
Hysteria,  163,  167,  187,  191,  198,  222, 

237 
Hysterical,  the,  52,  65,  159 

Identity  hypothesis,  1 

Imagination,  28,  144 

Impulse,  27,  99,  174,  198 

Impulsion,  167,  283 

Indications  for  hypnotic  treatment,  190 

Indifference,  condition  of  primary  and 

secondary,  3 
Inhibition,  21, 156, 160 
Instinct,  26 
Intuition,  27 

Jouer  au  naturel,  29 

Keller,  G.,  129 
Kopernik's  theory,  9 

Lactic  acid  theory  of  sleep,  146 
Law  of  preservation  of  energy,  11 
Lay  hypnotizing,  305 
Lethargy,  102,  281 
Li^beault,  43,  80,  186 
Liegeois,  119,  278,  286 
Lillienthal,  von,  278,  281,  294 
Lying,  133 

Malingering,  52, 136 
Mass  suggestion,  192 
Max  Dessoir,  20 
Medical  schools,  306 
Melancholia,  168,  207,  292 
Memory,  18,  27,  31 

falsification  of,  127,  292 
Menstruation,  63,  96,   103,   114,  191, 

198,  217,  223 
Mental  disturbances,  167 
Mesmerism,  42,  54 
Metaphysics,  13,  25 
Methods  of  hypnotizing,  179 
Meynert,  12,  143,  170 
Mneme  theory,  3,  92,  268 
Monism,  1,  9,  13 
Morbid  habits,  236 
Morphinism,  191,  201 
Motor  phenomena,  89 

Nancy  school,  40,  46,  54,  114,  281 
Nerve  activity,  31,  35 

elements,  31 

energy,  37 


Neurodynamic  inhibitions,  156 

Neurokymes,  2,  145,  157 

Neurone  theory,  33 

Neurons,  33,  153 

Number  of  hypnotizable  persons,  48 

Opening  up  new  paths,  31,  145,  153 
Organotherapy,  273 

Paedagogic  importance  of  hypnotism, 

141 

Parallelism,  10,  143 
Pathological  dissociability,  169 
Perception,  17 
Perjury,  303 
Personal  influence,  279 
Posthypnotic  phenomena,  106,  135 
Preyer,  146,  312 

Psychological  aspect  of  hypnotism,  143 
Psychology,  study  of,  306 
Psychopathic  conditions,  167,  197,  212 
Psychoses,  167,  172,  197 
Psychotherapy,  203,  217 

Quackery,  266 

Reflex,  95,  145 

yasomotor,  95 

Resistance  against  hypnosis,  100 
Ringier,  49,  166 
Ringier's  results,  194 
Rules  of  hypnosis,  186 

Safeguards,  280 

Sauter  case,  300 

Schrenck-Notzing,  von,  48,  71,  295 

Seeing,  38 

Semon,  R.,  3, 93, 268 

Sensation,  retroactive,  113 

Sensations,  152 

Sensory  phenomena,  89 

Sexual  crimes,  282 

Simulation  of  hypnosis,  133 

Sleep,  66,  146,  160 

Sleeping  consciousness,  63 

Sleeplessness,  191,  198,  220 

Social  importance  of  hypnotism,  142 

Somatic  theory,  51 

Somnambulism,  62,  83,  112 

spontaneous,  190,  221,  237 
Somnolence,  103 
Speech, 8 
Spiritualism,  42 
Steiner,  24 

Suggested  confessions,  293 
Suggestibility,  57 
Suggestion,  40,  46,  54 

aecheance,  115,  297 

as  to  time,  115,297 

historical  importance  of,  139 

lasting  result  of,  125 

significance  of,  138 

study  of,  306 


INDEX 


323 


Suggestions  of  illness,  290 
Superconsciousness,  2,  22,  91 

Telepathy,  44 
Termineingebung,  115,  288 
Terminology,  54 
Theories  of  hypnotism,  41 
Thoughts,  98 
Tooth  extraction,  112 
Training,  86 

Unconscious  suggestions,  40,  55,  65,  99, 
103 


Veitte  somnambulique,  119 

Vesication,  97,  98 

Vogt,  O.,  49,  62,  84,  90,  106,  135,  161, 

182,  281 
Vogt's  theory,  143 

of  sleep,  146 

Waking  consciousness,  63 
suggestion,  117,  203 
Wet  terst  rand,  48,  62,  173, 192 
Will,  99,  123 
Winter  sleepers,  309 
Witnesses,  298 


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CAT.   NO.    24    I6l 


Forel,  August 
Hypnotism 


Forel,  August. 
Hypnotism 


WMU15 
FTlUh 
1907 


1907 


MEDICAL  SCIENCES  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  IRVINE 

IRVINE,  CALIFORNIA  92664 


3  1970  02136  3053 


